Washington ? House and Senate negotiators reached a deal Friday on a measure that would send nearly $4 billion to states to upgrade outdated voting machines, improve voter registration methods and make polling booths accessible to the disabled.

The bill, which is expected to come up for a vote as early as next week, is lawmakers’ response to the balloting problems that plagued the last presidential election and delayed a decision on a winner for 36 days.

The deal, expected to spend just over $3.8 billion over three years, was reached after an all-night negotiating session. Lawmakers had been in gridlock on the measure for months.

“We have a bill that represents a tremendous advance of civil rights,” said Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich. Conyers had spent the day before visiting lawmakers’ offices to lobby for a compromise. “Because of this bill, every American will be closer to living in a democracy where every vote that is cast is counted and where the legitimacy of our democracy is no longer placed in doubt.”

The measure allows states with punch-card and lever voting systems to get money to buy upgraded machines if they want, and requires provisional voting, which allows people who do not appear on election rolls but say they are eligible to vote to cast a ballot. Election officials later would determine whether the ballots were valid.

Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., left, Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., center, and Sen. Christopher Bond, R-Mo., are shown prior to an announcement, made by the House and Senate, that an agreement had been reached on election reform legislation. The three were in the Capitol on Friday.

The measure also establishes statewide registration lists that would use the last four digits of a voter’s driver’s license or Social Security number as an identifier for the database. Voters with neither would be assigned an identifying number by the state.

States would also have to ensure that at least one voting machine at a polling place is accessible to the disabled.