EASE Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 7905 To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to direct the Election Assist- ance Commission to make payments to States to assist in administering elections during the COVID–19 Pandemic, to direct the Election Assist- ance Commission to adopt voluntary guidelines for use of nonvoting election technology, to prohibit payments under such Act to States which do not prohibit ballot harvesting, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JULY 31, 2020 Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois (for himself, Mr. YOUNG, Mr. GARCIA of Cali- fornia, Mr. CHABOT, Ms. STEFANIK, Mr. MEUSER, Mr. NUNES, Mr. MCCAUL, Mr. CALVERT, Mr. GUTHRIE, and Mr. DIAZ-BALART) intro- duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on House Administration, and in addition to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the juris- diction of the committee concerned A BILL To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to direct the Election Assistance Commission to make payments to States to assist in administering elections during the COVID–19 Pandemic, to direct the Election Assistance Commission to adopt voluntary guidelines for use of non- voting election technology, to prohibit payments under such Act to States which do not prohibit ballot har- vesting, and for other purposes. VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:31 Aug 22, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6652 E:\BILLS\H7905.IH H7905 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 7905 IH 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; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 3 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 4 ‘‘Emergency Assistance for Safe Elections Act’’ or the 5 ‘‘EASE Act’’. 6 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents of 7 this Act is as follows: 8 Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. TITLE I—FUNDING FOR ELECTION ADMINISTRATION Sec. 101. Payments to States to assist in administering elections during COVID–19 Pandemic. ‘‘PART 7—ASSISTANCE IN ADMINISTERING ELECTIONS DURING COVID–19 PANDEMIC ‘‘Sec. 297. Student loan repayments on behalf of volunteer poll workers and absentee ballot tabulators in 2020 general elections. ‘‘Sec. 297A. Voter registration list maintenance. ‘‘Sec. 297B. Protection from COVID–19. ‘‘Sec. 297C. General provisions. Sec. 102. Sense of Congress regarding exclusion of poll worker income from de- termination of eligibility for unemployment insurance. TITLE II—VOTING TECHNOLOGY Sec. 201. Voluntary guidelines for use of nonvoting election technology. ‘‘Subtitle E—Voluntary Guidelines for Use of Nonvoting Election Technology ‘‘Sec. 298. Adoption of voluntary guidelines by Commission. ‘‘Sec. 298A. Emerging Election Technology Committee. ‘‘Sec. 298B. Nonvoting election technology defined. Sec. 202. Status reports by National Institute of Standards and Technology. Sec. 203. Establishment of Election Cyber Assistance Unit in Election Assist- ance Commission. Sec. 204. Certification program in election administration or cybersecurity. TITLE III—ELECTION FRAUD PREVENTION Sec. 301. Findings. Sec. 302. Prohibition on payments to States allowing collection and trans- mission of ballots by certain third parties. VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:31 Aug 22, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6211 E:\BILLS\H7905.IH H7905 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 7905 IH TITLE I—FUNDING FOR 1 ELECTION ADMINISTRATION 2 SEC. 101. PAYMENTS TO STATES TO ASSIST IN ADMIN- 3 ISTERING ELECTIONS DURING COVID–19 PAN- 4 DEMIC. 5 (a) PAYMENTS.—Subtitle D of title II of the Help 6 America Vote Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 21001 et seq.) is 7 amended by adding at the end the following new part: 8 ‘‘PART 7—ASSISTANCE IN ADMINISTERING 9 ELECTIONS DURING COVID–19 PANDEMIC 10 ‘‘SEC. 297. STUDENT LOAN REPAYMENTS ON BEHALF OF 11 VOLUNTEER POLL WORKERS AND ABSENTEE 12 BALLOT TABULATORS IN 2020 GENERAL 13 ELECTIONS. 14 ‘‘(a) REPAYMENTS BY ELECTION ASSISTANCE COM- 15 MISSION.—The Commission shall make a payment to each 16 eligible State for the costs incurred by the State in repay- 17 ing (by direct payments on behalf of a qualified student 18 volunteer) a portion of a student loan previously taken out 19 by an individual who serves as a qualified student volun- 20 teer with respect to a regularly scheduled general election 21 for Federal office held in the State in November 2020. 22 ‘‘(b) ELIGIBILITY.—A State is eligible to receive a 23 payment under this section if the State submits to the 24 Commission, at such time and in such form as the Com- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:31 Aug 22, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7905.IH H7905 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 7905 IH mission may require, an application containing such infor- 1 mation and assurances as the Commission may require. 2 ‘‘(c) AMOUNT OF REPAYMENT.—Subject to the 3 amount of the payment made to the State under sub- 4 section (d), the amount of the costs the State incurs on 5 behalf of a qualified student volunteer for purposes of sub- 6 section (a) shall be equal to the product of— 7 ‘‘(1) a repayment rate established by the Com- 8 mission; and 9 ‘‘(2) the number of hours the volunteer serves 10 as a volunteer poll worker or as a volunteer absentee 11 ballot tabulator, as certified to the Commission by 12 the appropriate State or local election official. 13 ‘‘(d) AMOUNT OF PAYMENT.— 14 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), 15 the amount of a payment made to a State under this 16 section shall be equal to the product of— 17 ‘‘(A) the total amount appropriated for 18 such payments pursuant to the authorization 19 under subsection (e); and 20 ‘‘(B) the State allocation percentage for 21 the State. 22 ‘‘(2) MINIMUM AMOUNT OF PAYMENT.—The 23 amount of a payment made to a State under this 24 section may not be less than— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:31 Aug 22, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7905.IH H7905 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 7905 IH ‘‘(A) in the case of any of the several 1 States or the District of Columbia, one-half of 2 1 percent of the total amount appropriated for 3 such payments; or 4 ‘‘(B) in the case of the Commonwealth of 5 Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the 6 United States Virgin Islands, and the Common- 7 wealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, one- 8 tenth of 1 percent of such total amount. 9 ‘‘(3) PRO RATA REDUCTIONS.—The Commis- 10 sion shall make such pro rata reductions to the allo- 11 cations determined under paragraph (1) as are nec- 12 essary to comply with the requirements of paragraph 13 (2). 14 ‘‘(e) QUALIFIED STUDENT VOLUNTEER DEFINED.— 15 In this section, a ‘qualified student volunteer’ means an 16 individual— 17 ‘‘(1) who, as certified to the Commission by the 18 appropriate State or local election official, serves— 19 ‘‘(A) as a volunteer poll worker at a polling 20 place, including any location at which voters 21 may cast ballots prior to the date of the elec- 22 tion, or 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:31 Aug 22, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7905.IH H7905 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 7905 IH ‘‘(B) as a volunteer absentee ballot tab- 1 ulator, as certified to the Commission by the 2 appropriate State or local election official; and 3 ‘‘(2) at the time of serving as a volunteer poll 4 worker or volunteer absentee ballot tabulator, is en- 5 rolled at an institution of higher education (as de- 6 fined in section 102 of the Higher Education Act of 7 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1002)). 8 ‘‘(f) APPLICATION OF REGULATIONS UNDER STU- 9 DENT LOAN REPAYMENT PROGRAM FOR FEDERAL EM- 10 PLOYEES.—In carrying out the program under this sec- 11 tion, the Commission may make applicable such provisions 12 of section 5379 of title 5, United States Code, as the Com- 13 mission considers appropriate. 14 ‘‘(g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 15 are authorized to be appropriated $100,000,000 for pay- 16 ments under this section. 17 ‘‘SEC. 297A. VOTER REGISTRATION LIST MAINTENANCE. 18 ‘‘(a) PAYMENTS.— 19 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall 20 make a payment to each eligible State for carrying 21 out maintenance of the computerized Statewide 22 voter registration list under section 303 and car- 23 rying out programs under section 8 of the National 24 Voter Registration Act of 1993 (52 U.S.C. 20507) 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:31 Aug 22, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7905.IH H7905 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 7905 IH to ensure the accuracy of voter registration lists in 1 the State. 2 ‘‘(2) AVAILABILITY OF PAYMENTS TO STATES 3 WITHOUT VOTER REGISTRATION.—In the case of an 4 eligible State in which, under a State law in effect 5 continuously on and after the date of the enactment 6 of this Act, there is no voter registration require- 7 ment for individuals in the State with respect to 8 elections for Federal office, an eligible State shall 9 use the payment under this section for carrying out 10 activities to protect polling places in the State, and 11 individuals present in such polling places, from expo- 12 sure to SARS–CoV–2 or COVID–19 (as described in 13 section 297B). 14 ‘‘(b) ELIGIBILITY.—A State is eligible to receive a 15 payment under this section if the State submits to the 16 Commission, at such time and in such form as the Com- 17 mission may require, an application containing such infor- 18 mation and assurances as the Commission may require. 19 ‘‘(c) AMOUNT OF PAYMENT.— 20 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), 21 the amount of a payment made to a State under this 22 section shall be equal to the product of— 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:31 Aug 22, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7905.IH H7905 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 7905 IH ‘‘(A) the total amount appropriated for 1 such payments pursuant to the authorization 2 under subsection (d); and 3 ‘‘(B) the State allocation percentage for 4 the State. 5 ‘‘(2) MINIMUM AMOUNT OF PAYMENT.—The 6 amount of a payment made to a State under this 7 section may not be less than— 8 ‘‘(A) in the case of any of the several 9 States or the District of Columbia, one-half of 10 1 percent of the total amount appropriated for 11 such payments; or 12 ‘‘(B) in the case of the Commonwealth of 13 Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the 14 United States Virgin Islands, and the Common- 15 wealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, one- 16 tenth of 1 percent of such total amount. 17 ‘‘(3) PRO RATA REDUCTIONS.—The Commis- 18 sion shall make such pro rata reductions to the allo- 19 cations determined under paragraph (1) as are nec- 20 essary to comply with the requirements of paragraph 21 (2). 22 ‘‘(d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 23 are authorized to be appropriated $100,000,000 for pay- 24 ments under this section. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:31 Aug 22, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7905.IH H7905 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 7905 IH ‘‘SEC. 297B. PROTECTION FROM COVID–19. 1 ‘‘(a) PAYMENTS.—The Commission shall make the 2 following payments to each eligible State: 3 ‘‘(1) A payment for the chief State election offi- 4 cial to for carrying out Statewide activities to pro- 5 tect polling places in the State, and individuals 6 present in such polling places, from exposure to 7 SARS–CoV–2 or COVID–19. 8 ‘‘(2) A payment for the chief State election offi- 9 cial to pass through to local jurisdictions in the 10 State for carrying out a plan prepared by the chief 11 State election official and approved by the Commis- 12 sion to protect polling places in the jurisdiction, and 13 individuals present in such polling places, from expo- 14 sure to SARS–CoV–2 or COVID–19. 15 ‘‘(b) ELIGIBILITY.—A State is eligible to receive a 16 payment under this section if the State submits to the 17 Commission, at such time and in such form as the Com- 18 mission may require, an application containing such infor- 19 mation and assurances as the Commission may require. 20 ‘‘(c) AMOUNT OF PAYMENT.— 21 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), 22 the amount of a payment made to a State under 23 paragraph (1) or paragraph (2) of subsection (a) 24 shall be equal to the product of— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:31 Aug 22, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7905.IH H7905 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 7905 IH ‘‘(A) the total amount appropriated for 1 payments under such paragraph pursuant to 2 the authorization under subsection (d); and 3 ‘‘(B) the State allocation percentage for 4 the State. 5 ‘‘(2) MINIMUM AMOUNT OF PAYMENT.—The 6 amount of a payment made to a State under para- 7 graph (1) or paragraph (2) of subsection (a) may 8 not be less than— 9 ‘‘(A) in the case of any of the several 10 States or the District of Columbia, one-half of 11 1 percent of the total amount appropriated for 12 payments under such paragraph; or 13 ‘‘(B) in the case of the Commonwealth of 14 Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the 15 United States Virgin Islands, and the Common- 16 wealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, one- 17 tenth of 1 percent of such total amount. 18 ‘‘(3) PRO RATA REDUCTIONS.—The Commis- 19 sion shall make such pro rata reductions to the allo- 20 cations determined under paragraph (1) as are nec- 21 essary to comply with the requirements of paragraph 22 (2). 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:31 Aug 22, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7905.IH H7905 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 7905 IH ‘‘(d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 1 are authorized to be appropriated $200,000,000 for pay- 2 ments under this section, of which— 3 ‘‘(1) $100,000,000 is authorized to be appro- 4 priated for payments under paragraph (1) of sub- 5 section (a); and 6 ‘‘(2) $100,000,000 is authorized to be appro- 7 priated for payments under paragraph (2) of sub- 8 section (a). 9 ‘‘SEC. 297C. GENERAL PROVISIONS. 10 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.— 11 ‘‘(1) STATE.—In this part, the term ‘State’ 12 means each State, the District of Columbia, the 13 Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, American Samoa, 14 Guam, the United States Virgin Islands, and the 15 Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. 16 ‘‘(2) STATE ALLOCATION PERCENTAGE.—In 17 this part, the term ‘State allocation percentage’ 18 means, with respect to a State, the amount (ex- 19 pressed as a percentage) equal to the quotient of— 20 ‘‘(A) the voting age population of the State 21 (as reported in the most recent decennial cen- 22 sus); and 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:31 Au [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]