S. 1240 (119th)Bill Overview

Defending America’s Future Elections Act

Government Operations and Politics|Government Operations and Politics
Cosponsors
Support
Democratic
Introduced
Apr 1, 2025
Discussions
Bill Text
Current stageCommittee

Read twice and referred to the Committee on Rules and Administration.

Introduced
Committee
Floor
President
Law
Congressional Activities
01 · The brief

This bill repeals Executive Order 14248 (Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections) and prohibits federal funds from being used to implement that order.

It bars federal funding for the Department of Government Efficiency to access state voter registration lists, voter list maintenance records, federal immigration databases, or other records related to federal elections.

The bill cites the Constitution, the National Voter Registration Act, and the Help America Vote Act in its findings.

Passage25/100

Narrow and administratively simple but high political stakes and no compromise features reduce prospects; likely to encounter strong resistance and possible executive veto.

CredibilityPartially aligned

Relative to its intended legislative type, this bill functions primarily as a substantive policy change that nullifies a named Executive Order and creates categorical prohibitions on Federal funding for specified activities. The purpose and principal prohibitions are stated clearly, but the statute provides limited operational detail, lacks definitions for key terms and actors, contains no fiscal analysis, and offers no accountability or enforcement provisions.

Contention68/100

Progressives emphasize voter protection and preventing disenfranchisement

02 · What it does

Who stands to gain, and who may push back.

Who this appears to help vs burden50% / 50%
Federal agenciesFederal agencies
Likely helped
  • Federal agenciesReduces risk of mass disenfranchisement from federal purges or blanket challenges to voter rolls.
  • Federal agenciesReinforces state primacy over administration of federal elections, limiting federal intervention in time, place, and ma…
  • Federal agenciesLimits federal access to sensitive voter and immigration records, which supporters say protects individual privacy.
Likely burdened
  • Federal agenciesRestricts federal ability to access data used to detect cross‑jurisdictional voter fraud or improper registrations.
  • Federal agenciesLimits federal tools that could be used to investigate foreign interference or coordinated improper voting.
  • Targeted stakeholdersProhibits the Department of Government Efficiency from using funds for data access, constraining its investigative func…
03 · Why people split

Why the argument around this bill splits.

Progressives emphasize voter protection and preventing disenfranchisement
Progressive95%

This persona would view the bill as a needed rollback of executive overreach that risked disenfranchising voters.

They see it as protecting longstanding statutory voter safeguards and state authority over elections.

Leans supportive
Centrist60%

A centrist would generally support reasserting Congress and state roles over elections and object to apparent executive overreach.

However, they would want narrow language and safeguards to preserve legitimate fraud investigations and operational assistance.

Split reaction
Conservative20%

A mainstream conservative would likely oppose the bill as it curtails federal tools intended to protect election integrity.

They'd see the repeal as removing mechanisms to verify voter rolls and detect unlawful voting.

Likely resistant
04 · Can it pass?

The path through Congress.

Introduced

Reached or meaningfully advanced

Committee

Reached or meaningfully advanced

Floor

Still ahead

President

Still ahead

Law

Still ahead

Passage likelihood25/100

Narrow and administratively simple but high political stakes and no compromise features reduce prospects; likely to encounter strong resistance and possible executive veto.

Scope and complexity
24%
Scopenarrow
24%
Complexitylow
Why this could stall
  • Full text and measures of Executive Order 14248 are not included
  • Existence, mandate, or legal status of 'Department of Government Efficiency' unclear
05 · Recent votes

Recent votes on the bill.

No vote history yet

The bill has not accumulated any surfaced votes yet.

06 · Go deeper

Go deeper than the headline read.

Included on this page

Progressives emphasize voter protection and preventing disenfranchisement

Narrow and administratively simple but high political stakes and no compromise features reduce prospects; likely to encounter strong resist…

Unlocked analysis

Relative to its intended legislative type, this bill functions primarily as a substantive policy change that nullifies a named Executive Order and creates categorical prohibitions on Federal funding for specified activi…

Go beyond the headline summary with full stakeholder mapping, legislative design analysis, passage barriers, and lens-by-lens tradeoff breakdowns.

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