I
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 5046
To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to provide increased protections
for election workers and voters in elections for Federal office, and for
other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JULY27, 2023
Mr. S
ARBANES(for himself, Mr. MORELLE, Mr. ALLRED, and Ms. WILLIAMS
of Georgia) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on House Administration, and in addition to the Committee on the
Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in
each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdic-
tion of the committee concerned
A BILL
To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to provide
increased protections for election workers and voters in
elections for Federal office, 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 ‘‘Preventing Election 4
Subversion Act of 2023’’. 5
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SEC. 2. RESTRICTIONS ON REMOVAL OF LOCAL ELECTION 1
ADMINISTRATORS IN ADMINISTRATION OF 2
ELECTIONS FOR FEDERAL OFFICE. 3
(a) F
INDINGS.—Congress makes the following find-4
ings: 5
(1) Congress has explicit and broad authority to 6
regulate the time, place, and manner of Federal elec-7
tions under the Elections Clause under article I, sec-8
tion 4, clause 1 of the Constitution of the United 9
States, including by establishing standards for the 10
fair, impartial, and uniform administration of Fed-11
eral elections by State and local officials. 12
(2) The Elections Clause was understood from 13
the framing of the Constitution of the United States 14
to contain ‘‘words of great latitude,’’ granting Con-15
gress broad power over Federal elections and a ple-16
nary right to preempt State regulation in this area. 17
As made clear at the Constitutional Convention and 18
the State ratification debates that followed, this 19
grant of congressional authority was meant to ‘‘in-20
sure free and fair elections,’’ promote the uniform 21
administration of Federal elections, and ‘‘preserve 22
and restore to the people their equal and sacred 23
rights of election.’’. 24
(3) In the founding debates on the Elections 25
Clause, many delegates also argued that a broad 26
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grant of authority to Congress over Federal elections 1
was necessary to check any ‘‘abuses that might be 2
made of the discretionary power’’ to regulate the 3
time, place, and manner of elections granted the 4
States, including attempts at partisan entrenchment, 5
malapportionment, and the exclusion of political mi-6
norities. As the Supreme Court has recognized, the 7
Elections Clause empowers Congress to ‘‘protect the 8
elections on which its existence depends,’’ Ex parte 9
Yarbrough, 110 U.S. 651, 658 (1884), and ‘‘protect 10
the citizen in the exercise of rights conferred by the 11
Constitution of the United States essential to the 12
healthy organization of the government itself,’’ id. at 13
666. 14
(4) The Elections Clause grants Congress ‘‘ple-15
nary and paramount jurisdiction over the whole sub-16
ject’’ of Federal elections, Ex parte Siebold, 100 17
U.S. 371, 388 (1879), allowing Congress to imple-18
ment ‘‘a complete code for congressional elections.’’ 19
Smiley v. Holm, 285 U.S. 355, 366 (1932). The 20
Elections Clause, unlike, for example, the Commerce 21
Clause, has been found to grant Congress the au-22
thority to compel States to alter their regulations as 23
to Federal elections, id. at 366–67, even if these al-24
terations would impose additional costs on the 25
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States to execute or enforce. Association of Commu-1
nity Organizations for Reform Now v. Miller, 129 2
F.3d 833 (6th Cir. 1997). 3
(5) The phrase ‘‘manner of holding elections’’ 4
in the Elections Clause has been interpreted by the 5
Supreme Court to authorize Congress to regulate all 6
aspects of the Federal election process, including 7
‘‘notices, registration, supervision of voting, protec-8
tion of voters, prevention of fraud and corrupt prac-9
tices, counting of votes, duties of inspectors and can-10
vassers, and the making and publication of election 11
returns.’’ Smiley v. Holm, 285 U.S. 355, 366 12
(1932). 13
(6) The Supreme Court has recognized the 14
broad ‘‘substantive scope’’ of the Elections Clause 15
and upheld Federal laws promulgated thereunder 16
regulating redistricting, voter registration, campaign 17
finance, primary elections, recounts, party affiliation 18
rules, and balloting. 19
(7) The authority of Congress under the Elec-20
tions Clause also entails the power to ensure en-21
forcement of its laws regulating Federal elections. 22
‘‘[I]f Congress has the power to make regulations, it 23
must have the power to enforce them.’’ Ex parte 24
Siebold, 100 U.S. 371, 387 (1879). The Supreme 25
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Court has noted that there can be no question that 1
Congress may impose additional penalties for of-2
fenses committed by State officers in connection 3
with Federal elections even if they differ from the 4
penalties prescribed by State law for the same acts. 5
Id. at 387–88. 6
(8) The fair and impartial administration of 7
Federal elections by State and local officials is cen-8
tral to ‘‘the successful working of this government,’’ 9
Ex parte Yarbrough, 110 U.S. 651, 666 (1884), and 10
to ‘‘protect the act of voting . . . and the election 11
itself from corruption or fraud,’’ id. at 661–62. 12
(9) The Elections Clause thus grants Congress 13
the authority to ensure that the administration of 14
Federal elections is free of political bias or discrimi-15
nation and that election officials are insulated from 16
political influence or other forms of coercion in dis-17
charging their duties in connection with Federal 18
elections. 19
(10) In some States, oversight of local election 20
administrators has been allocated to State Election 21
Boards, or special commissions formed by those 22
boards, that are appointed by the prevailing political 23
party in a State, as opposed to nonpartisan or elect-24
ed office holders. 25
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(11) In certain newly enacted State policies, 1
these appointed statewide election administrators 2
have been granted wide latitude to suspend or re-3
move local election administrators in cases where the 4
statewide election administrators identify whatever 5
the State deems to be a violation. There is no re-6
quirement that there be a finding of intent by the 7
local election administrator to commit the violation. 8
(12) Local election administrators across the 9
country can be suspended or removed according to 10
different standards, potentially exposing them to dif-11
ferent political pressures or biases that could result 12
in uneven administration of Federal elections. 13
(13) The Elections Clause grants Congress the 14
ultimate authority to ensure that oversight of State 15
and local election administrators is fair and impar-16
tial in order to ensure equitable and uniform admin-17
istration of Federal elections. 18
(b) R
ESTRICTION.— 19
(1) S
TANDARD FOR REMOVAL OF A LOCAL 20
ELECTION ADMINISTRATOR .—A statewide election 21
administrator may only suspend, remove, or relieve 22
the duties of a local election administrator in the 23
State with respect to the administration of an elec-24
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tion for Federal office for inefficiency, neglect of 1
duty, or malfeasance in office. 2
(2) P
RIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION.— 3
(A) I
N GENERAL.—Any local election ad-4
ministrator suspended, removed, or otherwise 5
relieved of duties in violation of paragraph (1) 6
with respect to the administration of an election 7
for Federal office or against whom any pro-8
ceeding for suspension, removal, or relief from 9
duty in violation of paragraph (1) with respect 10
to the administration of an election for Federal 11
office may be pending, may bring an action in 12
an appropriate district court of the United 13
States for declaratory or injunctive relief with 14
respect to the violation. Any such action shall 15
name as the defendant the statewide election 16
administrator responsible for the adverse ac-17
tion. The district court shall, to the extent prac-18
ticable, expedite any such proceeding. 19
(B) S
TATUTE OF LIMITATIONS .—Any ac-20
tion brought under this subsection must be 21
commenced not later than 1 year after the date 22
of the suspension, removal, relief from duties, 23
or commencement of the proceeding to remove, 24
suspend, or relieve the duties of a local election 25
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administrator with respect to the administration 1
of an election for Federal office. 2
(3) A
TTORNEY’S FEES.—In any action or pro-3
ceeding under this subsection, the court may allow 4
a prevailing plaintiff, other than the United States, 5
reasonable attorney’s fees as part of the costs, and 6
may include expert fees as part of the attorney’s fee. 7
The term ‘‘prevailing plaintiff’’ means a plaintiff 8
that substantially prevails pursuant to a judicial or 9
administrative judgment or order, or an enforceable 10
written agreement. 11
(4) R
EMOVAL OF STATE PROCEEDINGS TO FED -12
ERAL COURT.—A local election administrator who is 13
subject to an administrative or judicial proceeding 14
for suspension, removal, or relief from duty by a 15
statewide election administrator with respect to the 16
administration of an election for Federal office may 17
remove the proceeding to an appropriate district 18
court of the United States. Any order remanding a 19
case to the State court or agency from which it was 20
removed under this subsection shall be reviewable by 21
appeal or otherwise. 22
(5) R
IGHT OF UNITED STATES TO INTER -23
VENE.— 24
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(A) NOTICE TO ATTORNEY GENERAL .— 1
Whenever any administrative or judicial pro-2
ceeding is brought to suspend, remove, or re-3
lieve the duties of any local election adminis-4
trator by a statewide election administrator 5
with respect to the administration of an election 6
for Federal office, the statewide election admin-7
istrator who initiated such proceeding shall de-8
liver a copy of the pleadings instituting the pro-9
ceeding to the Assistant Attorney General for 10
the Civil Rights Division of the Department of 11
Justice. The local election administrator against 12
whom such proceeding is brought may also de-13
liver such pleadings to the Assistant Attorney 14
General. 15
(B) R
IGHT TO INTERVENE .—The United 16
States may intervene in any administrative or 17
judicial proceeding brought to suspend, remove, 18
or relieve the duties of any local election admin-19
istrator by a statewide election administrator 20
with respect to the administration of an election 21
for Federal office and in any action initiated 22
pursuant to paragraph (2) or in any removal 23
pursuant to paragraph (4). 24
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(6) REVIEW.—In reviewing any action brought 1
under this section, a court of the United States shall 2
not afford any deference to any State official, ad-3
ministrator, or tribunal that initiated, approved, ad-4
judicated, or reviewed any administrative or judicial 5
proceeding to suspend, remove, or otherwise relieve 6
the duties of a local election administrator. 7
(c) R
EPORTS TO THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE.— 8
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 30 days after 9
the suspension, removal, or relief of the duties of a 10
local election administrator by a statewide election 11
administrator, the Statewide election administrator 12
shall submit to the Assistant Attorney General for 13
the Civil Rights Divisions of the Department of Jus-14
tice a report that includes the following information: 15
(A) A statement that a local election ad-16
ministrator was suspended, removed, or relieved 17
of their duties. 18
(B) Information on whether the local elec-19
tion administrator was determined to be ineffi-20
cient or to have engaged in neglect of duty or 21
malfeasance in office. 22
(C) A description of the effect that the 23
suspension, removal, or relief of the duties of 24
the local election administrator will have on— 25
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(i) the administration of elections and 1
voters in the election jurisdictions for 2
which the local election official provided 3
such duties; and 4
(ii) the administration of elections and 5
voters in the State at large. 6
(D) Demographic information about the 7
local election official suspended, removed, or re-8
lieved and the jurisdictions for which such elec-9
tion official was providing the duties suspended, 10
removed, or relieved. 11
(E) Such other information as requested 12
by the Assistant Attorney General for the pur-13
poses of determining— 14
(i) whether such suspension, removal, 15
or relief of duties was based on unlawful 16
discrimination; and 17
(ii) whether such suspension, removal, 18
or relief of duties was due to inefficiency, 19
neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office. 20
(2) E
XPEDITED REPORTING FOR ACTIONS 21
WITHIN 30 DAYS OF AN ELECTION .— 22
(A) I
N GENERAL.—If a suspension, re-23
moval, or relief of duties of a local adminis-24
trator described in paragraph (1) occurs during 25
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the period described in subparagraph (B), the 1
report required under paragraph (1) shall be 2
submitted not later than 48 hours after such 3
suspension, removal, or relief of duties. 4
(B) P
ERIOD DESCRIBED.—The period de-5
scribed in this subparagraph is any period 6
which begins 60 days before the date of an elec-7
tion for Federal office and which ends 60 days 8
after such election. 9
(d) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section, the following defi-10
nitions apply: 11
(1) E
LECTION.—The term ‘‘election’’ has the 12
meaning given the term in section 301(1) of the 13
Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 14
30101(1)). 15
(2) F
EDERAL OFFICE.—The term ‘‘Federal of-16
fice’’ has the meaning given the term in section 17
301(3) of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 18
1971 (52 U.S.C. 30101(3)). 19
(3) L
OCAL ELECTION ADMINISTRATOR .—The 20
term ‘‘local election administrator’’ means, with re-21
spect to a local jurisdiction in a State, the individual 22
or entity responsible for the administration of elec-23
tions for Federal office in the local jurisdiction. 24
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(4) STATEWIDE ELECTION ADMINISTRATOR .— 1
The term ‘‘statewide election administrator’’ means, 2
with respect to a State— 3
(A) the individual or entity, including a 4
State elections board, responsible for the ad-5
ministration of elections for Federal office in 6
the State on a statewide basis; or 7
(B) a statewide legislative or executive en-8
tity with the authority to suspend, remove, or 9
relieve a local election administrator. 10
(e) R
ULE OFCONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec-11
tion shall be construed to grant any additional authority 12
to remove a local elections administrator beyond any au-13
thority provided under the law of the State. 14
SEC. 3. PROTECTIONS FOR VOTERS ON ELECTION DAY. 15
(a) R
EQUIREMENTS.—Subtitle A of title III of the 16
Help America Vote Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 21081 et seq.) 17
is amended by inserting after section 303 the following 18
new section: 19
‘‘SEC. 303A. VOTER PROTECTION REQUIREMENTS. 20
‘‘(a) R
EQUIREMENTS FOR CHALLENGES BYPERSONS 21
O
THERTHANELECTIONOFFICIALS.— 22
‘‘(1) R
EQUIREMENTS FOR CHALLENGES .—No 23
person, other than a State or local election official, 24
shall submit a formal challenge to an individual’s eli-25
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gibility to register to vote in an election for Federal 1
office or to vote in an election for Federal office un-2
less that challenge is supported by personal knowl-3
edge with respect to each individual challenged re-4
garding the grounds for ineligibility which is— 5
‘‘(A) documented in writing; and 6
‘‘(B) subject to an oath or attestation 7
under penalty of perjury that the challenger has 8
a good faith factual basis to believe that the in-9
dividual who is the subject of the challenge is 10
ineligible to register to vote or vote in that elec-11
tion, except a challenge that is based on the 12
race, color, ethnicity, national origin, or mem-13
bership in a language minority group (as de-14
fined in section 14 of the Voting Rights Act of 15
1965 (52 U.S.C. 10310)) of the individual who 16
is the subject of the challenge may not be con-17
sidered to have a good faith factual basis for 18
purposes of this paragraph. 19
‘‘(2) P
ROHIBITION ON CHALLENGES ON OR 20
NEAR DATE OF ELECTION .—No person, other than 21
a State or local election official, shall be permitted— 22
‘‘(A) to challenge an individual’s eligibility 23
to vote in an election for Federal office on the 24
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date of the election on grounds that could have 1
been made in advance of such date; or 2
‘‘(B) to challenge an individual’s eligibility 3
to register to vote in an election for Federal of-4
fice or to vote in an election for Federal office 5
less than 10 days before the election unless the 6
individual registered to vote less than 20 days 7
before the election. 8
‘‘(b) E
FFECTIVEDATE.—This section shall apply 9
with respect to elections for Federal office occurring on 10
and after January 1, 2024.’’. 11
(b) C
ONFORMINGAMENDMENT RELATING TOEN-12
FORCEMENT.—Section 401 of such Act (52 U.S.C. 21111) 13
is amended by striking ‘‘and 303’’ and inserting ‘‘303, and 14
303A’’. 15
(c) C
LERICALAMENDMENT.—The table of contents 16
of such Act is amended by inserting after the item relating 17
to section 303 the following: 18
‘‘Sec. 303A. Voter protection requirements.’’.
Æ
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