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Federal Elections Modernization Act

What Changes for Voters

Published February 2026

Based on Rev 5.0 of the Federal Elections Modernization Act

Overview

This document describes what voting for Congress looks like under the Federal Elections Modernization Act (FEMA), hereafter referred to as "the Act." The goal is simple: you should be able to picture Election Day before reading any policy details.

Your Ballot

Under the Act, your House ballot uses STAR voting -- Score Then Automatic Runoff. Instead of picking one candidate, you score each candidate from 0 to 5 stars.

A sample ballot might look like this:

U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES - District 3
Score each candidate from 0 (worst) to 5 (best). You may give the same score to multiple candidates.

                                                      FCAO
Candidate            Party        Endorsements        Exam    Rating
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sarah Martinez       Democratic   Dem, Working Fam    88%     0  1  2  3  4  5

James Chen           Republican   Republican          92%     0  1  2  3  4  5

Maria Rodriguez      Democratic   Dem, Green          85%     0  1  2  3  4  5

Thomas Anderson      Republican   Rep, Forward        79%     0  1  2  3  4  5

Jennifer Kim         Independent  Independent         95%     0  1  2  3  4  5

Robert Wilson        Libertarian  Libertarian         91%     0  1  2  3  4  5

[Additional candidates listed...]

What you'll notice:

  • Each candidate appears once, with their registered party and any endorsements displayed
  • You can see coalition relationships at a glance (who endorsed whom)
  • Each candidate's FCAO Exam result is displayed -- this tells you how they performed on a standardized test of constitutional and governmental knowledge
  • You score everyone -- your favorite gets a 5, candidates you dislike get a 0, and you can use any scores in between
  • You can give the same score to multiple candidates if you genuinely like (or dislike) them equally

New Information on Your Ballot

The Act adds two new pieces of information to help you evaluate candidates:

FCAO Exam Results

Every candidate for federal office takes the Federal Candidate Assessment Office (FCAO) examination, which tests knowledge of constitutional structure, government operations, and civic fundamentals. The percentage shown is their exam result.

What to know about FCAO scores: - This is information for you, not a barrier for candidates -- there's no minimum score required to run or serve - A candidate who scores 0% can still appear on the ballot and win if voters choose them - Candidates can retake the exam as many times as they want; only their highest score appears - Use it however you find helpful -- some voters care a lot, others don't

Joint Endorsement Lists

Candidates may display up to three party endorsements. This tells you which political coalitions support them:

  • "Dem, Working Families" means both the Democratic Party and Working Families Party endorsed this candidate
  • "Rep, Forward" means both the Republican Party and Forward Party endorsed this candidate
  • "Independent" typically means the candidate has no major party endorsement
  • Some party-registered candidates may have no endorsements if their party chose not to endorse them

These endorsements reveal coalition relationships that weren't visible under the old system.

How You Vote

Step 1: Review the candidates. Each candidate shows their party registration, up to three party endorsements, and their FCAO Exam result. This tells you which coalitions support them and how they performed on the standardized assessment.

Step 2: Score each candidate. Give your favorite a 5. Give candidates you oppose a 0. Use the full range for everyone else based on your preferences. You don't have to score everyone -- leaving a candidate blank counts as a 0.

Step 3: Submit your ballot. That's it. No ranking, no complicated instructions. Just scores.

What's different from today:

Today Under the Act
Pick one candidate Score all candidates 0-5
Worry about "wasting" your vote on a longshot Support your honest favorite without penalty
Can't express degrees of preference Full range from strong support to strong opposition
Party shown once Party registration plus up to 3 endorsements displayed
No standardized competency information FCAO Exam results displayed for all candidates
Primary election then general election Single general election in November

How Your Vote Counts

In most states, your House district becomes a multi-member district electing 3-5 representatives. Here's how the votes translate into seats:

The short version: Candidates with the highest combined support win seats, allocated proportionally. If 40% of your region's voters prefer one party's candidates, that party wins roughly 40% of the seats.

A simple example:

Your region elects 5 representatives. After all ballots are scored: - Candidates preferred by 40% of voters --> 2 seats - Candidates preferred by 35% of voters --> 2 seats - Candidates preferred by 25% of voters --> 1 seat

The STAR-PR (STAR Proportional Representation) tabulation method handles the math. What matters to you: your vote contributes to the outcome regardless of whether your preferred candidates win outright.

What Stays Familiar

You still vote for people, not parties. You're scoring individual candidates, not choosing a party list. The candidates with the most support win -- you decide who those candidates are.

You still vote at your normal polling place. Election administration doesn't change. Your county runs the election the same way, with the same poll workers, the same check-in process.

You still have one Election Day. Actually, the Act simplifies things: there's no primary election for federal offices. All qualified candidates appear on the November ballot. One trip to vote for federal offices instead of two.

Your Senate and Presidential votes work similarly. STAR voting applies to all federal races, so you use the same scoring method for President and Senate. The only difference: those remain single-winner races, so the candidate with highest support wins outright rather than seats being allocated proportionally.

Common Questions

What if I only care about one candidate?

Give them a 5 and everyone else a 0. Your ballot works fine. But you might find value in distinguishing between candidates you merely dislike and candidates you strongly oppose.

What if I like two candidates equally?

Give them the same score. Unlike ranked-choice voting, you're not forced to create artificial distinctions.

Does my second-choice score hurt my first choice?

No. The STAR system first identifies the two candidates with highest total scores, then conducts an automatic runoff using your preferences between those two. Supporting multiple candidates doesn't undermine your favorite.

What if I don't know all the candidates?

Score the ones you know. Candidates you leave blank receive a 0 from your ballot. You're not required to research every candidate to participate meaningfully.

Will this be confusing?

It's simpler than it sounds. Most voters find scoring more intuitive than ranking -- you already rate restaurants, movies, and products on 5-star scales. This works the same way.

The Bottom Line

Election Day under the Act looks almost identical to today: same polling place, same check-in, same privacy. The ballot asks you to score candidates instead of picking one. Your scores contribute to proportional outcomes, so your vote matters whether you're in the majority or minority in your region.

You vote honestly. The system handles the rest.

Revision History

Revision 4.0 (Current)

  • Updated from CMA Rev 4.2 to FEMA Rev 5.0
  • Rebranded all references from "Congressional Modernization Act (CMA)" to "Federal Elections Modernization Act (FEMA)"
  • Applied APAI self-reference conventions: full name established once in Overview, "the Act" used for all subsequent references
  • Reformatted header and footer to APAI Document Production Standards
  • Relocated Revision History from top of document to standard footer position
  • Added language specifier to code block per MD040
  • No changes to voter-facing descriptions, ballot examples, or FAQ content

Revision 3.0

  • Updated sample ballot to include FCAO Exam scores
  • Added "New Information on Your Ballot" section explaining FCAO and Joint Endorsement Lists
  • Expanded "What's different from today" comparison table
  • Fixed character encoding issues
  • Updated for CMA Rev 4.2

Revision 2.0

  • Updated to reflect CMA Rev 4.2 Unified General Election Structure (UGES)
  • Updated "What Stays Familiar" section: all federal elections use single general election (no primaries)

Revision 1.0

  • Initial voter-focused explainer document

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Prepared by Albert Ramos for The American Policy Architecture Institute