Election Fraud Prevention Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 6882 To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to prohibit payments under such Act to States which permit ballot harvesting, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 15, 2020 Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois (for himself, Mr. MCCARTHY, Mr. SCALISE, Mr. NUNES, Mr. CALVERT, Mr. MCCLINTOCK, Mr. LAMALFA, Mr. COOK, Mr. WALKER, and Mr. LOUDERMILK) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on House Administration A BILL To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to prohibit payments under such Act to States which permit ballot harvesting, 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 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Election Fraud Pre- 4 vention Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6 Congress finds that— 7 (1) the right to vote is a fundamental right of 8 citizens of the United States; 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:08 Jun 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6882.IH H6882 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 6882 IH (2) it is the responsibility of the State and Fed- 1 eral Governments to ensure that elections are con- 2 ducted with integrity; 3 (3) the Committee on House Administration of 4 the House of Representatives, which is charged with 5 investigating election irregularities, received reports 6 through its official Election Observer Program for 7 the 2018 general election that individuals other than 8 voters themselves were depositing large amounts of 9 absentee ballots at polling places throughout Cali- 10 fornia, a practice colloquially known as ‘‘ballot har- 11 vesting’’; 12 (4) the practice of ballot harvesting in Cali- 13 fornia creates significant vulnerabilities in the chain- 14 of-custody of ballots because individuals collecting 15 ballots are not required to be registered voters and 16 are not required to identify themselves at a voter’s 17 home, and the State does not track how many bal- 18 lots are harvested in an election; 19 (5) in North Carolina, a congressional election 20 was invalidated due to fraud associated with ballot 21 harvesting committed by a political operative, and it 22 is unlikely such activity would have been detected 23 were it not for the prohibition against ballot har- 24 vesting in the State; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:08 Jun 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6882.IH H6882 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 6882 IH (6) ballot harvesting invites electioneering activ- 1 ity at home and creates the possibility of undue in- 2 fluence over voters by political operatives. 3 SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON PAYMENTS TO STATES ALLOWING 4 COLLECTION AND TRANSMISSION OF BAL- 5 LOTS BY CERTAIN THIRD PARTIES. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle D of title II of the Help 7 America Vote Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 21001 et seq.) is 8 amended by adding at the end the following new part: 9 ‘‘PART 7—PROHIBITION ON PAYMENTS TO 10 STATES ALLOWING COLLECTION AND 11 TRANSMISSION OF BALLOTS BY CERTAIN 12 THIRD PARTIES 13 ‘‘SEC. 297. ELIGIBILITY FOR PAYMENTS OF STATES ALLOW- 14 ING COLLECTION AND TRANSMISSION OF 15 BALLOTS BY CERTAIN THIRD PARTIES. 16 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—A State is not eligible to receive 17 funds under this Act unless the State has in effect a law 18 that prohibits an individual from the knowing collection 19 and transmission of a ballot in an election for Federal of- 20 fice that was mailed to another person, other than an indi- 21 vidual described as follows: 22 ‘‘(1) An election official while engaged in offi- 23 cial duties as authorized by law. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:08 Jun 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6882.IH H6882 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 6882 IH ‘‘(2) An employee of the United States Postal 1 Service while engaged in official duties as authorized 2 by law. 3 ‘‘(3) Any other individual who is allowed by law 4 to collect and transmit United States mail, while en- 5 gaged in official duties as authorized by law. 6 ‘‘(4) A family member, household member, or 7 caregiver of the person to whom the ballot was 8 mailed. 9 ‘‘(b) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section, 10 with respect to a person to whom the ballot was mailed: 11 ‘‘(1) The term ‘caregiver’ means an individual 12 who provides medical or health care assistance to 13 such person in a residence, nursing care institution, 14 hospice facility, assisted living center, assisted living 15 facility, assisted living home, residential care institu- 16 tion, adult day health care facility, or adult foster 17 care home. 18 ‘‘(2) The term ‘family member’ means an indi- 19 vidual who is related to such person by blood, mar- 20 riage, adoption or legal guardianship. 21 ‘‘(3) The term ‘household member’ means an 22 individual who resides at the same residence as such 23 person.’’. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:08 Jun 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6882.IH H6882 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 6882 IH (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 1 of such Act is amended by inserting after the item relating 2 to section 296 the following new item: 3 ‘‘PART 7—PROHIBITION ON PAYMENTS TO STATES ALLOWING COLLECTION AND TRANSMISSION OF BALLOTS BY CERTAIN THIRD PARTIES ‘‘Sec. 297. Eligibility for payments of States allowing collection and trans- mission of ballots by certain third parties.’’. Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:08 Jun 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H6882.IH H6882 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS