Us Congress 2023-2024 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB9968 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	I
2	2	118THCONGRESS
3	3	2
4	4	DSESSION H. R. 9968
5	5	To protect election workers and polling places.
6	6	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
7	7	OCTOBER11, 2024
8	8	Mr. G
9	9	OTTHEIMER(for himself and Mr. BACON) introduced the following bill;
10	10	which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
11	11	A BILL
12	12	To protect election workers and polling places.
13	13	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
14	14	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
15	15	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
16	16	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Election Worker and 4
17	17	Polling Place Protection Act’’. 5
18	18	SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON INTERFERENCE AND INTIMIDA-6
19	19	TION. 7
20	20	Section 11 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (52 8
21	21	U.S.C. 10307) is amended by adding at the end the fol-9
22	22	lowing: 10
23	23	‘‘(f)(1)(A) Whoever, whether or not acting under 11
24	24	color of law, by force or threat of force, or by violence 12
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27	27	•HR 9968 IH
28	28	or threat of violence to any person or property, willfully 1
29	29	interferes with or attempts to interfere with, the ability 2
30	30	of any person or any class of persons to vote or qualify 3
31	31	to vote, or to qualify or act as a poll watcher or as any 4
32	32	legally authorized election official, in any primary, special, 5
33	33	or general election, or any person who is, or is employed 6
34	34	by, an agent, contractor, or vendor of a legally authorized 7
35	35	election official assisting in the administration of any pri-8
36	36	mary, special, or general election to assist in that adminis-9
37	37	tration, shall be fined not more than $2,500, or impris-10
38	38	oned not more than 6 months, or both. 11
39	39	‘‘(B) Whoever, whether or not acting under color of 12
40	40	law, by force or threat of force, or by violence or threat 13
41	41	of violence to any person or property, willfully intimidates 14
42	42	or attempts to intimidate, any person or any class of per-15
43	43	sons seeking to vote or qualify to vote, or to qualify or 16
44	44	act as a poll watcher or as any legally authorized election 17
45	45	official, in any primary, special, or general election, or any 18
46	46	person who is, or is employed by, an agent, contractor, 19
47	47	or vendor of a legally authorized election official assisting 20
48	48	in the administration of any primary, special, or general 21
49	49	election, shall be fined not more than $2,500, or impris-22
50	50	oned not more than 6 months, or both. 23
51	51	‘‘(C) If bodily injury results from an act committed 24
52	52	in violation of this paragraph or if such act includes the 25
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56	56	use, attempted use, or threatened use of a dangerous 1
57	57	weapon, an explosive, or fire, then, in lieu of the remedy 2
58	58	described in subparagraph (A) or (B), the violator shall 3
59	59	be fined not more than $5,000 or imprisoned not more 4
60	60	than 1 year, or both. 5
61	61	‘‘(2)(A) Whoever, whether or not acting under color 6
62	62	of law, willfully physically damages or threatens to phys-7
63	63	ically damage any physical property being used as a poll-8
64	64	ing place or tabulation center or other election infrastruc-9
65	65	ture, with the intent to interfere with the administration 10
66	66	of a primary, general, or special election or the tabulation 11
67	67	or certification of votes for such an election, shall be fined 12
68	68	not more than $2,500, or imprisoned not more than 6 13
69	69	months, or both. 14
70	70	‘‘(B) If bodily injury results from an act committed 15
71	71	in violation of this paragraph or if such act includes the 16
72	72	use, attempted use, or threatened use of a dangerous 17
73	73	weapon, an explosive, or fire, then, in lieu of the remedy 18
74	74	described in subparagraph (A), the violator shall be fined 19
75	75	not more than $5,000 or imprisoned not more than 1 year, 20
76	76	or both. 21
77	77	‘‘(3) For purposes of this subsection, de minimus 22
78	78	damage or a threat of de minimus damage to physical 23
79	79	property shall not be considered a violation of this sub-24
80	80	section. 25
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84	84	‘‘(4) For purposes of this subsection, the term ‘elec-1
85	85	tion infrastructure’ means any office of a legally author-2
86	86	ized election official, or a staffer, worker, or volunteer, as-3
87	87	sisting such an election official or any physical, mechan-4
88	88	ical, or electrical device, structure, or tangible item, used 5
89	89	in the process of creating, distributing, voting, returning, 6
90	90	counting, tabulating, auditing, storing, or other handling 7
91	91	of voter registration or ballot information. 8
92	92	‘‘(g) No prosecution of any offense described in sub-9
93	93	section (f) may be undertaken by the United States, ex-10
94	94	cept under the certification in writing of the Attorney Gen-11
95	95	eral, or a designee, that— 12
96	96	‘‘(1) the State does not have jurisdiction; 13
97	97	‘‘(2) the State has requested that the Federal 14
98	98	Government assume jurisdiction; or 15
99	99	‘‘(3) a prosecution by the United States is in 16
100	100	the public interest and necessary to secure substan-17
101	101	tial justice.’’. 18
102	102	Æ
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