Election Protection Act of 2021

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2844 To establish Election Security Enhancement Units in the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency of the Department of Homeland Security, to direct the Election Assistance Commission to make a grant to each State which certifies that it has implemented certain steps to ensure the integ- rity of voter registration, the casting of ballots, and the tabulation of ballots in elections for Federal office in the State, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APRIL 26, 2021 Mr. MCCAUL introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on House Administration A BILL To establish Election Security Enhancement Units in the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency of the Depart- ment of Homeland Security, to direct the Election Assist- ance Commission to make a grant to each State which certifies that it has implemented certain steps to ensure the integrity of voter registration, the casting of ballots, and the tabulation of ballots in elections for Federal office in the State, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:44 Jun 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2844.IH H2844 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 2844 IH SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Election Protection 2 Act of 2021’’. 3 SEC. 2. STRENGTHENING ELECTION SECURITY MEASURES. 4 (a) ESTABLISHMENT OF ELECTION SECURITY EN- 5 HANCEMENT UNITS IN CYBERSECURITY AND INFRA- 6 STRUCTURE AGENCY.— 7 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle A of title XXII of 8 the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 651 9 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the fol- 10 lowing new section: 11 ‘‘SEC. 2218. ELECTION SECURITY ENHANCEMENT UNITS. 12 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There are established in the 13 Agency units to be known as Election Security Enhance- 14 ment Units (hereafter in this section referred to as 15 ‘Units’). 16 ‘‘(b) DUTIES.—The Units shall provide State and 17 local election officials in various geographic regions of the 18 United States access to risk-management, resiliency, and 19 technical support services provided by election administra- 20 tion and cybersecurity experts who shall be based in such 21 regions and who may provide such services in person, by 22 telephone, or online.’’. 23 (2) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of con- 24 tents in section 1(b) of the Homeland Security Act 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:44 Jun 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2844.IH H2844 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 2844 IH of 2002 is amended by inserting after the item relat- 1 ing to section 2217 the following new item: 2 ‘‘Sec. 2218. Election Security Enhancement Units.’’. (b) DUTY OF SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY 3 TO NOTIFY STATE AND LOCAL OFFICIALS OF THREATS 4 TO SECURITY OF ELECTIONS.— 5 (1) DUTY TO SHARE INFORMATION WITH DE- 6 PARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY.—If a Federal 7 entity receives information about an incident which 8 threatens the security of a Federal election, the Fed- 9 eral entity shall promptly share that information 10 with the Department of Homeland Security, unless 11 the head of the entity (or a Senate-confirmed official 12 designated by the head) makes a specific determina- 13 tion in writing that there is good cause to withhold 14 the particular information. 15 (2) RESPONSE TO RECEIPT OF INFORMATION 16 BY SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY.— 17 (A) IN GENERAL.—Upon receiving infor- 18 mation about an incident under paragraph (1), 19 the Secretary, in consultation with the Attorney 20 General, the Director of the Federal Bureau of 21 Investigation, and the Director of National In- 22 telligence, shall promptly (but in no case later 23 than 96 hours after receiving the information) 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:44 Jun 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2844.IH H2844 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 2844 IH review the information and make a determina- 1 tion whether each of the following apply: 2 (i) There is credible evidence that the 3 incident occurred. 4 (ii) There is a basis to believe that the 5 incident resulted, could have resulted, or 6 could result in the alteration of the results 7 of the election. 8 (B) DUTY TO NOTIFY STATE AND LOCAL 9 OFFICIALS.— 10 (i) DUTY DESCRIBED.—If the Sec- 11 retary makes a determination under sub- 12 paragraph (A) that clauses (i) and (ii) of 13 such subparagraph apply with respect to 14 an incident, not later than 96 hours after 15 making the determination, the Secretary 16 shall provide a notification of the incident 17 to each of the following: 18 (I) The chief executive of the 19 State involved. 20 (II) The State election official of 21 the State involved. 22 (III) The local election official of 23 the election agency involved. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:44 Jun 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2844.IH H2844 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 2844 IH (ii) TREATMENT OF CLASSIFIED IN- 1 FORMATION.— 2 (I) EFFORTS TO AVOID INCLU- 3 SION OF CLASSIFIED INFORMATION.— 4 In preparing a notification provided 5 under this paragraph to an individual 6 described in subclause (I), (II), or 7 (III) of clause (i), the Secretary shall 8 attempt to avoid the inclusion of clas- 9 sified information. 10 (II) PROVIDING GUIDANCE TO 11 STATE AND LOCAL OFFICIALS.—To 12 the extent that a notification provided 13 under this paragraph to an individual 14 described in subclause (I), (II), or 15 (III) of clause (i) includes classified 16 information, the Secretary (in con- 17 sultation with the Attorney General 18 and the Director of National Intel- 19 ligence) shall indicate in the notifica- 20 tion which information is classified. 21 (C) EXCEPTION.— 22 (i) IN GENERAL.—If the Secretary, in 23 consultation with the Attorney General and 24 the Director of National Intelligence, 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:44 Jun 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2844.IH H2844 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 2844 IH makes a determination that it is not pos- 1 sible to provide a notification under sub- 2 paragraph (A) with respect to an incident 3 without compromising intelligence methods 4 or sources or interfering with an ongoing 5 investigation, the Secretary shall not pro- 6 vide the notification under such paragraph. 7 (ii) ONGOING REVIEW.—Not later 8 than 30 days after making a determination 9 under clause (i) and every 30 days there- 10 after, the Secretary shall review the deter- 11 mination. If, after reviewing the deter- 12 mination, the Secretary makes a revised 13 determination that it is possible to provide 14 a notification under subparagraph (B) 15 without compromising intelligence methods 16 or sources or interfering with an ongoing 17 investigation, the Secretary shall provide 18 the notification under subparagraph (B) 19 not later than 96 hours after making such 20 revised determination. 21 (3) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection, the fol- 22 lowing definitions apply: 23 (A) ELECTION AGENCY.—The term ‘‘elec- 24 tion agency’’ means any component of a State, 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:44 Jun 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2844.IH H2844 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 2844 IH or any component of a unit of local government 1 in a State, which is responsible for the adminis- 2 tration of elections for Federal office in the 3 State. 4 (B) FEDERAL ELECTION.—The term 5 ‘‘Federal election’’ means any election (as de- 6 fined in section 301(1) of the Federal Election 7 Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30101(1))) 8 for Federal office (as defined in section 301(3) 9 of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 10 (52 U.S.C. 30101(3))). 11 (C) FEDERAL ENTITY.—The term ‘‘Fed- 12 eral entity’’ means any agency (as defined in 13 section 551 of title 5, United States Code). 14 (D) LOCAL ELECTION OFFICIAL.—The 15 term ‘‘local election official’’ means the chief 16 election official of a component of a unit of 17 local government of a State that is responsible 18 for administering Federal elections. 19 (E) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ 20 means the Secretary of Homeland Security. 21 (F) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means 22 each of the several States, the District of Co- 23 lumbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, 24 Guam, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:44 Jun 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2844.IH H2844 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 2844 IH Northern Mariana Islands, and the United 1 States Virgin Islands. 2 (G) STATE ELECTION OFFICIAL.—The 3 term ‘‘State election official’’ means— 4 (i) the chief State election official of a 5 State designated under section 10 of the 6 National Voter Registration Act of 1993 7 (52 U.S.C. 20509); or 8 (ii) in the case of Puerto Rico, Guam, 9 American Samoa, the Northern Mariana 10 Islands, and the United States Virgin Is- 11 lands, a chief State election official des- 12 ignated by the State for purposes of this 13 Act. 14 (4) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This subsection shall 15 apply with respect to information about an incident 16 which threatens the security of a Federal election 17 which is received on or after the date of the enact- 18 ment of this Act. 19 SEC. 3. GRANTS TO STATES CERTIFYING INTEGRITY OF 20 ELECTIONS. 21 (a) GRANTS.—The Election Assistance Commission 22 (hereafter referred to as the ‘‘Commission’’) shall make 23 a grant to each eligible State. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:44 Jun 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2844.IH H2844 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 2844 IH (b) USE OF FUNDS.—A State shall use the funds 1 provided by a grant made under this section to carry out 2 the administration of elections for Federal office in the 3 State. 4 (c) ELIGIBILITY.—A State is eligible to receive a 5 grant under this section if the State submits to the Com- 6 mission, at such time and in such form as the Commission 7 may require, an application containing— 8 (1) each of the certifications described in para- 9 graphs (1), (2), and (3) of subsection (e); and 10 (2) such other information and assurances as 11 the Commission may require. 12 (d) AMOUNT OF GRANT.— 13 (1) IN GENERAL.—The amount of the grant 14 made to an eligible State under this section shall be 15 the minimum payment amount described in para- 16 graph (2) plus the voting age population proportion 17 amount described in paragraph (3). 18 (2) MINIMUM PAYMENT AMOUNT.—The min- 19 imum payment amount described in this paragraph 20 is— 21 (A) in the case of any of the several States 22 or the District of Columbia, one-half of 1 per- 23 cent of the aggregate amount made available 24 for payments under this section; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:44 Jun 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2844.IH H2844 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 2844 IH (B) in the case of the Commonwealth of 1 Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the 2 United States Virgin Islands, or the Common- 3 wealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, one- 4 tenth of 1 percent of such aggregate amount. 5 (3) VOTING AGE POPULATION PROPORTION 6 AMOUNT.—The voting age population proportion 7 amount described in this paragraph is the product 8 of— 9 (A) the aggregate amount made available 10 for payments under this section minus the total 11 of all of the minimum payment amounts deter- 12 mined under paragraph (2); and 13 (B) the voting age population proportion 14 for the State (as defined in paragraph (4)). 15 (4) VOTING AGE POPULATION PROPORTION DE- 16 FINED.—The term ‘‘voting age population propor- 17 tion’’ means, with respect to a State, the amount 18 equal to the quotient of— 19 (A) the voting age population of the State 20 (as reported in the most recent decennial cen- 21 sus); and 22 (B) the total voting age population of all 23 States (as reported in the most recent decennial 24 census). 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:44 Jun 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2844.IH H2844 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 2844 IH (e) CERTIFICATIONS DESCRIBED.— 1 (1) CERTIFICATION OF COMPLIANCE WITH 2 VOTER REGISTRATION LIST MAINTENANCE REQUIRE- 3 MENTS.—The certification described in this para- 4 graph is a certification that the State completed a 5 program to systematically remove the names of ineli- 6 gible voters from the official lists of eligible voters 7 with respect to the most recent regularly scheduled 8 general election for Federal office held in the State, 9 as required under section 8(c)(2) of the National 10 Voter Registration Act of 1993 (52 U.S.C. 11 20507(c)(2)). 12 (2) CERTIFICATIONS RELATING TO INTEGRITY 13 IN CASTING OF BALLOTS.—The certifications de- 14 scribed in this paragraph are as follows: 15 (A) REQUIRING PROVISION OF IDENTIFICA- 16 TION AS CONDITION OF VOTING.— 17 (i) INDIVIDUALS VOTING IN PER- 18 SON.—A certification that, notwithstanding 19 any other provision of law, the appropriate 20 State or local election official does not pro- 21 vide a ballot for an election for Federal of- 22 fice to an individual who desires to vote in 23 person unless the individual presents to the 24 official a current and valid identification. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:44 Jun 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2844.IH H2844 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 12 •HR 2844 IH (ii) INDIVIDUALS VOTING OTHER 1 THAN IN PERSON.—A certification that, 2 notwithstanding any other provision of law, 3 the appropriate State or local election offi- 4 cial does not accept any ballot for an elec- 5 tion for Federal office provided by an indi- 6 vidual who votes other than in person un- 7 less the individual submits with the ballot 8 a copy of a current and valid identification. 9 (iii) CURRENT AND VALID IDENTI- 10 FICATION DEFINED.—In this subpara- 11 graph, a ‘‘current and valid identification’’ 12 means a current and valid version of any 13 of the following: 14 (I) An identification issued by a 15 State or a unit of local government in 16 a State. 17 (II) A United States passport. 18 (III) A military identification 19 card. 20 (IV) An identification issued by a 21 tribal government. 22 (B) PROHIBITING DELIVERY OF BALLOTS 23 BY MAIL UNLESS REQUESTED.—A certification 24 that the State does not deliver a ballot in an 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:44 Jun 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2844.IH H2844 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 13 •HR 2844 IH election for Federal office to an [Text truncated for display. 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