SJRES 186 — A joint resolution proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States relative to the fundamental right to vote.

Summary

This joint resolution proposes a constitutional amendment establishing a fundamental right to vote for all U.S. citizens of legal voting age in public elections in their jurisdiction of residence. The amendment would prohibit the United States or any state from denying or restricting this voting right unless there is a compelling governmental interest and the restriction is the least restrictive means of achieving that interest. The amendment would repeal the phrase "or other crime" from the Fourteenth Amendment and grant Congress the power to enforce the voting right through legislation. If approved by two-thirds of both houses of Congress, the proposal would need to be ratified by three-fourths of the state legislatures to become part of the Constitution.

AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.

Sponsor (1)

Sen. Durbin, Richard J. [D-IL] (D-IL)

9 cosponsors

Money behind the sponsor

Top reported contributors to Richard J. Durbin’s campaign committee (2024 cycle) — who funds the bill’s sponsor, not a claim about this bill. Data from FEC.

SIMMONS HANLY CONROY LLC $19,133
THE GORI LAW FIRM $18,300
CLIFFORD LAW OFFICES PC $17,750
POWER ROGERS & SMITH LLP $17,300
MAUNE RAICHLE HARTLEY FRENCH & MUDD $14,638

Organizations whose employees gave the most — itemized individual contributions grouped by the donor’s reported employer (FEC Schedule A). Full finance for Richard J. Durbin → · Outside spending →

Actions (2)

Apr 27, 2026 Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. (text: CR S2055) · senate
Apr 27, 2026 Introduced in Senate

Similar bills (6)

Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.

Full text

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

April 27, 2026

Mr. Durbin (for himself, Mr. Merkley, Ms. Hirono, Mr. Van Hollen, Ms. Warren, Mr. Sanders, Mr. Blumenthal, Mr. Padilla, Mr. Markey, and Mr. Welch) introduced the following joint resolution; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

JOINT RESOLUTION

Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States relative to the fundamental right to vote.

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled (two-thirds of each House concurring therein), That the following article is proposed as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which shall be valid to all intents and purposes as part of the Constitution when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States:

“Article—

“Section 1. Every citizen of the United States, who is of legal voting age, shall have the fundamental right to vote in any public election held in the jurisdiction in which the citizen resides. “Section 2. The fundamental right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State or political subdivision within a State unless such denial or abridgment is in furtherance of a compelling governmental interest and is the least restrictive means of furthering that compelling governmental interest. “Section 3. The portion of section 2 of the fourteenth article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States that consists of the phrase ‘or other crime,’ is repealed. “Section 4. The Congress shall have the power to enforce this article and protect against any denial or abridgement of the fundamental right to vote by legislation.”. <all>

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