II 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1487 To enhance protections for election records. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 9, 2023 Ms. KLOBUCHAR (for herself, Mr. BROWN, Mr. MERKLEY, Mr. PADILLA, Mr. SANDERS, Ms. SMITH, Mr. WARNER, Mr. WELCH, and Mr. WHITE- HOUSE) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Rules and Administration A BILL To enhance protections for election records. 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 ‘‘Protecting Election 4 Administration from Interference Act of 2023’’. 5 SEC. 2. ENHANCEMENT OF PROTECTIONS FOR ELECTION 6 RECORDS, PAPERS, AND EQUIPMENT. 7 (a) PRESERVATION OF RECORDS, PAPER, AND 8 EQUIPMENT.—Section 301 of the Civil Rights Act of 1960 9 (52 U.S.C. 20701) is amended— 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:00 May 16, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1487.IS S1487 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1487 IS (1) by striking ‘‘Every officer’’ and inserting 1 the following: 2 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Every officer’’; 3 (2) by striking ‘‘records and papers’’ and in- 4 serting ‘‘records (including electronic records), pa- 5 pers, and election equipment’’ each place the term 6 appears; 7 (3) by striking ‘‘record or paper’’ and inserting 8 ‘‘record (including electronic record), paper, or elec- 9 tion equipment’’; 10 (4) by inserting ‘‘(but only under the direct ad- 11 ministrative supervision of an election officer). Not- 12 withstanding any other provision of this section, the 13 paper record of a voter’s cast ballot shall remain the 14 official record of the cast ballot for purposes of this 15 title’’ after ‘‘upon such custodian’’; 16 (5) by inserting ‘‘, or acts in reckless disregard 17 of,’’ after ‘‘fails to comply with’’; and 18 (6) by inserting after subsection (a) the fol- 19 lowing: 20 ‘‘(b) ELECTION EQUIPMENT.—The requirement in 21 subsection (a) to preserve election equipment shall not be 22 construed to prevent the reuse of such equipment in any 23 election that takes place within twenty-two months of a 24 Federal election described in subsection (a), provided that 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:00 May 16, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1487.IS S1487 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1487 IS all electronic records, files, and data from such equipment 1 related to such Federal election are retained and pre- 2 served. 3 ‘‘(c) GUIDANCE.—Not later than 1 year after the 4 date of the enactment of this subsection, the Director of 5 the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency of 6 the Department of Homeland Security, in consultation 7 with the Election Assistance Commission and the Attorney 8 General, shall issue guidance regarding compliance with 9 subsections (a) and (b), including minimum standards and 10 best practices for retaining and preserving records (includ- 11 ing electronic records), papers, and election equipment in 12 compliance with subsections (a) and (b). Such guidance 13 shall also include protocols for enabling the observation 14 of the preservation, security, and transfer of records (in- 15 cluding electronic records), papers, and election equipment 16 described in subsection (a) by the Attorney General and 17 by a representative of each party, as defined by the Attor- 18 ney General.’’. 19 (b) PENALTY.—Section 302 of the Civil Rights Act 20 of 1960 (52 U.S.C. 20702) is amended— 21 (1) by inserting ‘‘, or whose reckless disregard 22 of section 301 results in the theft, destruction, con- 23 cealment, mutilation, or alteration of,’’ after ‘‘or al- 24 ters’’; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:00 May 16, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1487.IS S1487 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1487 IS (2) by striking ‘‘record or paper’’ and inserting 1 ‘‘record (including electronic record), paper, or elec- 2 tion equipment’’. 3 (c) INSPECTION, REPRODUCTION, AND COPYING.— 4 Section 303 of the Civil Rights Act of 1960 (52 U.S.C. 5 20703) is amended by striking ‘‘record or paper’’ and in- 6 serting ‘‘record (including electronic record), paper, or 7 election equipment’’ each place the term appears. 8 (d) NONDISCLOSURE.—Section 304 of the Civil 9 Rights Act of 1960 (52 U.S.C. 20704) is amended by 10 striking ‘‘record or paper’’ and inserting ‘‘record (includ- 11 ing electronic record), paper, or election equipment’’. 12 (e) JURISDICTION TO COMPEL PRODUCTION.—Sec- 13 tion 305 of the Civil Rights Act of 1960 (52 U.S.C. 14 20705) is amended by striking ‘‘record or paper’’ and in- 15 serting ‘‘record (including electronic record), paper, or 16 election equipment’’ each place the term appears. 17 SEC. 3. JUDICIAL REVIEW FOR ELECTION RECORDS. 18 Title III of the Civil Rights Act of 1960 (52 U.S.C. 19 20701 et seq.), is amended— 20 (1) by redesignating section 306 as section 307; 21 and 22 (2) by inserting after section 305 the following: 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:00 May 16, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1487.IS S1487 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1487 IS ‘‘SEC. 306. JUDICIAL REVIEW TO ENSURE COMPLIANCE. 1 ‘‘(a) RIGHT OF ACTION.—The Attorney General, a 2 representative of the Attorney General, or a candidate in 3 a Federal election described in section 301 may bring an 4 action in the district court of the United States for the 5 judicial district in which a record (including electronic 6 record), paper, or election equipment is located, or in the 7 United States District Court for the District of Columbia, 8 to compel compliance with the requirements of section 9 301. 10 ‘‘(b) DUTY TO EXPEDITE.—It shall be the duty of 11 the court to advance on the docket, and to expedite to 12 the greatest possible extent the disposition of, the action 13 and appeal under this section.’’. 14 SEC. 4. CRIMINAL PENALTIES FOR INTIMIDATION OF TAB- 15 ULATION, CANVASS, OR CERTIFICATION EF- 16 FORTS. 17 Section 12(1) of the National Voter Registration Act 18 of 1993 (52 U.S.C. 20511(1)) is amended— 19 (1) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘or’’ at 20 the end; and 21 (2) by adding at the end the following: 22 ‘‘(D) processing or scanning ballots, or 23 tabulating, canvassing, or certifying voting re- 24 sults; or’’. 25 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:00 May 16, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1487.IS S1487 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS