I
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 3130
To enhance protections for election records.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MAY9, 2023
Mr. A
LLRED(for himself, Mr. SARBANES, Mr. VEASEY, Ms. ESCOBAR, and
Ms. S
LOTKIN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on House
Administration, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speak-
er, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the ju-
risdiction of the committee concerned
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) P
RESERVATION OF RECORDS, PAPER, AND 8
E
QUIPMENT.—Section 301 of the Civil Rights Act of 1960 9
(52 U.S.C. 20701) is amended— 10
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(1) by striking ‘‘Every officer’’ and inserting 1
the following: 2
‘‘(a) I
NGENERAL.—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) E
LECTIONEQUIPMENT.—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
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all electronic records, files, and data from such equipment 1
related to such Federal election are retained and pre-2
served. 3
‘‘(c) G
UIDANCE.—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) P
ENALTY.—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
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(2) by striking ‘‘record or paper’’ and inserting 1
‘‘record (including electronic record), paper, or elec-2
tion equipment’’. 3
(c) I
NSPECTION, REPRODUCTION, ANDCOPYING.— 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) N
ONDISCLOSURE.—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) J
URISDICTIONTOCOMPELPRODUCTION.—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
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‘‘SEC. 306. JUDICIAL REVIEW TO ENSURE COMPLIANCE. 1
‘‘(a) R
IGHT OFACTION.—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) D
UTYTOEXPEDITE.—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
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