Protect Election Integrity Act of 2020

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 4893 To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to provide for the establishment of election integrity measures by States and to prohibit ballot harvesting in Federal elections. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES NOVEMBER 12, 2020 Mr. HAWLEY introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Rules and Administration A BILL To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to provide for the establishment of election integrity measures by States and to prohibit ballot harvesting in Federal elec- tions. 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 ‘‘Protect Election Integ- 4 rity Act of 2020’’. 5 SEC. 2. ELECTION INTEGRITY MEASURES. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.— 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:40 Nov 25, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4893.IS S4893 ctelli on DSK11ZRN23PROD with BILLS_GL 2 •S 4893 IS (1) REQUIREMENT.—Subtitle D of title II of 1 the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 2 20901 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the 3 following new part: 4 ‘‘PART 7—ELECTION INTEGRITY MEASURES 5 ‘‘SEC. 297. ELIGIBILITY FOR PAYMENTS OF STATES LACK- 6 ING ELECTION INTEGRITY MEASURES. 7 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—A State is not eligible to receive 8 funds under this Act unless the State meets the following 9 requirements with respect to each election held on or after 10 January 1, 2021. 11 ‘‘(1) COLLECTION AND TRANSMISSION OF BAL- 12 LOTS.—The State has in effect a law that prohibits 13 an individual from the knowing collection and trans- 14 mission of a ballot that was mailed to another per- 15 son, other than an individual described as follows: 16 ‘‘(A) An election official while engaged in 17 official duties as authorized by law. 18 ‘‘(B) An employee of the United States 19 Postal Service while engaged in official duties 20 as authorized by law. 21 ‘‘(C) Any other individual who is allowed 22 by law to collect and transmit United States 23 mail, while engaged in official duties as author- 24 ized by law. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:40 Nov 25, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4893.IS S4893 ctelli on DSK11ZRN23PROD with BILLS_GL 3 •S 4893 IS ‘‘(D) A family member, household member, 1 or caregiver of the person to whom the ballot 2 was mailed. 3 ‘‘(2) OBSERVATION.—The State has in effect a 4 law that permits the observation of polling places or 5 counting of ballots, at any site where voting or ballot 6 counting is occurring, by at least 2 appointed cam- 7 paign representatives per campaign. 8 ‘‘(3) RECORD.—The State has in effect a law 9 requiring that mail-in or absentee ballots be counted 10 and recorded immediately upon receipt, with no re- 11 sults to be disclosed until after the closure of polling 12 places on the date of the election. 13 ‘‘(4) BALLOT COUNTING.—The State has in ef- 14 fect a law providing that after the closure of polling 15 places on the date of the election, ballot counting be- 16 gins and does not stop, for any reason except immi- 17 nent emergency, until all ballots are counted. 18 ‘‘(5) SURVEILLANCE.—The State has in effect 19 a law that provides for round-the-clock video surveil- 20 lance monitoring of absentee ballot drop boxes, with 21 unedited footage to be made available upon request 22 to members of the public at no charge. 23 ‘‘(6) REPORT.—The State has in effect a law 24 that each supervisor of elections must post a report 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:40 Nov 25, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4893.IS S4893 ctelli on DSK11ZRN23PROD with BILLS_GL 4 •S 4893 IS on the official website of such supervisor at least 3 1 months before a general election for Federal office 2 which outlines preparations for the upcoming gen- 3 eral election. Each report under this paragraph must 4 include, at a minimum, the following elements: 5 ‘‘(A) The anticipated staffing levels during 6 the early voting period, on election day, and 7 after election day. 8 ‘‘(B) The anticipated amount of automatic 9 tabulating equipment at each early voting site 10 and polling place. 11 ‘‘(7) CERTIFICATION.—The State has in effect 12 a law providing that following the certification of the 13 election, the municipal entity responsible for certi- 14 fying the election shall conduct a manual audit or an 15 automated, independent audit of the voting systems 16 used in randomly selected precincts. The resulting 17 report must be made available to the public within 18 15 days after completion of the audit. 19 ‘‘(b) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section: 20 ‘‘(1) APPOINTED CAMPAIGN REPRESENTA- 21 TIVE.—The term ‘appointed campaign representa- 22 tive’ means, with respect to the official campaign of 23 a candidate appearing on a ballot, an individual au- 24 thorized to observe voting procedures or the count- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:40 Nov 25, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4893.IS S4893 ctelli on DSK11ZRN23PROD with BILLS_GL 5 •S 4893 IS ing of ballots by the campaign, but not the can- 1 didate himself or herself. A political committee 2 formed for the specific purpose of expressly advo- 3 cating the passage or defeat of an issue on the ballot 4 may also authorize appointed campaign representa- 5 tives. 6 ‘‘(2) CAREGIVER.—The term ‘caregiver’ means, 7 with respect to a person, an individual who provides 8 medical or health care assistance to such person in 9 a residence, nursing care institution, hospice facility, 10 assisted living center, assisted living facility, assisted 11 living home, residential care institution, adult day 12 health care facility, or adult foster care home. 13 ‘‘(3) FAMILY MEMBER.—The term ‘family 14 member’ means, with respect to a person, an indi- 15 vidual who is related to such person by blood, mar- 16 riage, adoption, or legal guardianship. 17 ‘‘(4) HOUSEHOLD MEMBER.—The term ‘house- 18 hold member’ means, with respect to a person, an 19 individual who resides at the same residence as such 20 person.’’. 21 (2) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of con- 22 tents of such Act is amended by inserting after the 23 item relating to section 296 the following new item: 24 ‘‘PART 7—ELECTION INTEGRITY MEASURES VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:40 Nov 25, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6211 E:\BILLS\S4893.IS S4893 ctelli on DSK11ZRN23PROD with BILLS_GL 6 •S 4893 IS ‘‘Sec. 297. Eligibility for payments of States lacking election integrity meas- ures.’’. (b) PROHIBITION ON BALLOT HARVESTING IN FED- 1 ERAL ELECTIONS.— 2 (1) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 29 of title 18, 3 United States Code is amended by adding at the end 4 the following new section: 5 ‘‘§ 612. Prohibition on ballot harvesting in Federal 6 elections 7 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—It shall be unlawful for any per- 8 son to knowingly collect and transmit a ballot in an elec- 9 tion for Federal office that was mailed to another person, 10 other than an individual described as follows: 11 ‘‘(1) An election official while engaged in offi- 12 cial duties as authorized by law. 13 ‘‘(2) An employee of the United States Postal 14 Service while engaged in official duties as authorized 15 by law. 16 ‘‘(3) Any other individual who is allowed by law 17 to collect and transmit United States mail, while en- 18 gaged in official duties as authorized by law. 19 ‘‘(4) A family member, household member, or 20 caregiver of the person to whom the ballot was 21 mailed.’’. 22 ‘‘(b) PENALTY.—Any person who violates subsection 23 (a) shall be fined not more than $10,000 for each ballot 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:40 Nov 25, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4893.IS S4893 ctelli on DSK11ZRN23PROD with BILLS_GL 7 •S 4893 IS collected and transmitted in violation of such subsection, 1 imprisoned for not more than 5 years, or both. 2 ‘‘(c) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section: 3 ‘‘(1) CAREGIVER.—The term ‘caregiver’ means, 4 with respect to a person, an individual who provides 5 medical or health care assistance to such person in 6 a residence, nursing care institution, hospice facility, 7 assisted living center, assisted living facility, assisted 8 living home, residential care institution, adult day 9 health care facility, or adult foster care home. 10 ‘‘(2) FAMILY MEMBER.—The term ‘family 11 member’ means, with respect to a person, an indi- 12 vidual who is related to such person by blood, mar- 13 riage, adoption, or legal guardianship. 14 ‘‘(3) HOUSEHOLD MEMBER.—The term ‘house- 15 hold member’ means, with respect to a person, an 16 individual who resides at the same residence as such 17 person. 18 ‘‘(d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section shall apply 19 with respect to elections for Federal office held after Janu- 20 ary 1, 2021.’’. 21 (2) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sec- 22 tions for chapter 29 of title 18, United States Code 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:40 Nov 25, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4893.IS S4893 ctelli on DSK11ZRN23PROD with BILLS_GL 8 •S 4893 IS is amended by adding at the end the following new 1 item: 2 ‘‘612. Prohibition on ballot harvesting in Federal elections.’’. Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:40 Nov 25, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S4893.IS S4893 ctelli on DSK11ZRN23PROD with BILLS_GL