I
118THCONGRESS
2
DSESSION H. R. 9968
To protect election workers and polling places.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
OCTOBER11, 2024
Mr. G
OTTHEIMER(for himself and Mr. BACON) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
A BILL
To protect election workers and polling places.
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 ‘‘Election Worker and 4
Polling Place Protection Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON INTERFERENCE AND INTIMIDA-6
TION. 7
Section 11 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (52 8
U.S.C. 10307) is amended by adding at the end the fol-9
lowing: 10
‘‘(f)(1)(A) Whoever, whether or not acting under 11
color of law, by force or threat of force, or by violence 12
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or threat of violence to any person or property, willfully 1
interferes with or attempts to interfere with, the ability 2
of any person or any class of persons to vote or qualify 3
to vote, or to qualify or act as a poll watcher or as any 4
legally authorized election official, in any primary, special, 5
or general election, or any person who is, or is employed 6
by, an agent, contractor, or vendor of a legally authorized 7
election official assisting in the administration of any pri-8
mary, special, or general election to assist in that adminis-9
tration, shall be fined not more than $2,500, or impris-10
oned not more than 6 months, or both. 11
‘‘(B) Whoever, whether or not acting under color of 12
law, by force or threat of force, or by violence or threat 13
of violence to any person or property, willfully intimidates 14
or attempts to intimidate, any person or any class of per-15
sons seeking to vote or qualify to vote, or to qualify or 16
act as a poll watcher or as any legally authorized election 17
official, in any primary, special, or general election, or any 18
person who is, or is employed by, an agent, contractor, 19
or vendor of a legally authorized election official assisting 20
in the administration of any primary, special, or general 21
election, shall be fined not more than $2,500, or impris-22
oned not more than 6 months, or both. 23
‘‘(C) If bodily injury results from an act committed 24
in violation of this paragraph or if such act includes the 25
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use, attempted use, or threatened use of a dangerous 1
weapon, an explosive, or fire, then, in lieu of the remedy 2
described in subparagraph (A) or (B), the violator shall 3
be fined not more than $5,000 or imprisoned not more 4
than 1 year, or both. 5
‘‘(2)(A) Whoever, whether or not acting under color 6
of law, willfully physically damages or threatens to phys-7
ically damage any physical property being used as a poll-8
ing place or tabulation center or other election infrastruc-9
ture, with the intent to interfere with the administration 10
of a primary, general, or special election or the tabulation 11
or certification of votes for such an election, shall be fined 12
not more than $2,500, or imprisoned not more than 6 13
months, or both. 14
‘‘(B) If bodily injury results from an act committed 15
in violation of this paragraph or if such act includes the 16
use, attempted use, or threatened use of a dangerous 17
weapon, an explosive, or fire, then, in lieu of the remedy 18
described in subparagraph (A), the violator shall be fined 19
not more than $5,000 or imprisoned not more than 1 year, 20
or both. 21
‘‘(3) For purposes of this subsection, de minimus 22
damage or a threat of de minimus damage to physical 23
property shall not be considered a violation of this sub-24
section. 25
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‘‘(4) For purposes of this subsection, the term ‘elec-1
tion infrastructure’ means any office of a legally author-2
ized election official, or a staffer, worker, or volunteer, as-3
sisting such an election official or any physical, mechan-4
ical, or electrical device, structure, or tangible item, used 5
in the process of creating, distributing, voting, returning, 6
counting, tabulating, auditing, storing, or other handling 7
of voter registration or ballot information. 8
‘‘(g) No prosecution of any offense described in sub-9
section (f) may be undertaken by the United States, ex-10
cept under the certification in writing of the Attorney Gen-11
eral, or a designee, that— 12
‘‘(1) the State does not have jurisdiction; 13
‘‘(2) the State has requested that the Federal 14
Government assume jurisdiction; or 15
‘‘(3) a prosecution by the United States is in 16
the public interest and necessary to secure substan-17
tial justice.’’. 18
Æ
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