The Senate Judiciary Committee approved legislation Thursday that would create penalties for voter intimidation, after first rejecting Republican attempts to add language targeting voter fraud.

Panel members approved by voice vote a substitute version of the bill (S 453) offered by Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., that stripped language allowing private parties to bring lawsuits to block deceptive voting practices.

Without that language, the bill is now more closely aligned with a companion measure (HR 1281) the House passed in June.

Under the Senate bill, people who knowingly communicate false information about the time, place or manner of an election or about voter eligibility would be punished with fines or prison sentences of up to five years.

The legislation, approved by voice vote, is a response to civil rights groups’ complaints of efforts to mislead voters in predominantly minority neighborhoods during recent elections.

The two political parties have traded charges of voting irregularities. Democrats have alleged efforts to suppress minority votes through deception or intimidation, while Republicans have focused on fraud by people not qualified to vote.