Us Congress 2023-2024 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SB1487 Compare Versions

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

Old	New	Differences
1	1	II
2	2	118THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION S. 1487
5	5	To enhance protections for election records.
6	6	IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
7	7	MAY9, 2023
8	8	Ms. K
9	9	LOBUCHAR(for herself, Mr. BROWN, Mr. MERKLEY, Mr. PADILLA, Mr.
10	10	S
11	11	ANDERS, Ms. SMITH, Mr. WARNER, Mr. WELCH, and Mr. WHITE-
12	12	HOUSE) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred
13	13	to the Committee on Rules and Administration
14	14	A BILL
15	15	To enhance protections for election records.
16	16	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
17	17	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
18	18	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
19	19	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protecting Election 4
20	20	Administration from Interference Act of 2023’’. 5
21	21	SEC. 2. ENHANCEMENT OF PROTECTIONS FOR ELECTION 6
22	22	RECORDS, PAPERS, AND EQUIPMENT. 7
23	23	(a) P
24	24	RESERVATION OF RECORDS, PAPER, AND 8
25	25	E
26	26	QUIPMENT.—Section 301 of the Civil Rights Act of 1960 9
27	27	(52 U.S.C. 20701) is amended— 10
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31	31	(1) by striking ‘‘Every officer’’ and inserting 1
32	32	the following: 2
33	33	‘‘(a) I
34	34	NGENERAL.—Every officer’’; 3
35	35	(2) by striking ‘‘records and papers’’ and in-4
36	36	serting ‘‘records (including electronic records), pa-5
37	37	pers, and election equipment’’ each place the term 6
38	38	appears; 7
39	39	(3) by striking ‘‘record or paper’’ and inserting 8
40	40	‘‘record (including electronic record), paper, or elec-9
41	41	tion equipment’’; 10
42	42	(4) by inserting ‘‘(but only under the direct ad-11
43	43	ministrative supervision of an election officer). Not-12
44	44	withstanding any other provision of this section, the 13
45	45	paper record of a voter’s cast ballot shall remain the 14
46	46	official record of the cast ballot for purposes of this 15
47	47	title’’ after ‘‘upon such custodian’’; 16
48	48	(5) by inserting ‘‘, or acts in reckless disregard 17
49	49	of,’’ after ‘‘fails to comply with’’; and 18
50	50	(6) by inserting after subsection (a) the fol-19
51	51	lowing: 20
52	52	‘‘(b) E
53	53	LECTIONEQUIPMENT.—The requirement in 21
54	54	subsection (a) to preserve election equipment shall not be 22
55	55	construed to prevent the reuse of such equipment in any 23
56	56	election that takes place within twenty-two months of a 24
57	57	Federal election described in subsection (a), provided that 25
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61	61	all electronic records, files, and data from such equipment 1
62	62	related to such Federal election are retained and pre-2
63	63	served. 3
64	64	‘‘(c) G
65	65	UIDANCE.—Not later than 1 year after the 4
66	66	date of the enactment of this subsection, the Director of 5
67	67	the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency of 6
68	68	the Department of Homeland Security, in consultation 7
69	69	with the Election Assistance Commission and the Attorney 8
70	70	General, shall issue guidance regarding compliance with 9
71	71	subsections (a) and (b), including minimum standards and 10
72	72	best practices for retaining and preserving records (includ-11
73	73	ing electronic records), papers, and election equipment in 12
74	74	compliance with subsections (a) and (b). Such guidance 13
75	75	shall also include protocols for enabling the observation 14
76	76	of the preservation, security, and transfer of records (in-15
77	77	cluding electronic records), papers, and election equipment 16
78	78	described in subsection (a) by the Attorney General and 17
79	79	by a representative of each party, as defined by the Attor-18
80	80	ney General.’’. 19
81	81	(b) P
82	82	ENALTY.—Section 302 of the Civil Rights Act 20
83	83	of 1960 (52 U.S.C. 20702) is amended— 21
84	84	(1) by inserting ‘‘, or whose reckless disregard 22
85	85	of section 301 results in the theft, destruction, con-23
86	86	cealment, mutilation, or alteration of,’’ after ‘‘or al-24
87	87	ters’’; and 25
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91	91	(2) by striking ‘‘record or paper’’ and inserting 1
92	92	‘‘record (including electronic record), paper, or elec-2
93	93	tion equipment’’. 3
94	94	(c) I
95	95	NSPECTION, REPRODUCTION, ANDCOPYING.— 4
96	96	Section 303 of the Civil Rights Act of 1960 (52 U.S.C. 5
97	97	20703) is amended by striking ‘‘record or paper’’ and in-6
98	98	serting ‘‘record (including electronic record), paper, or 7
99	99	election equipment’’ each place the term appears. 8
100	100	(d) N
101	101	ONDISCLOSURE.—Section 304 of the Civil 9
102	102	Rights Act of 1960 (52 U.S.C. 20704) is amended by 10
103	103	striking ‘‘record or paper’’ and inserting ‘‘record (includ-11
104	104	ing electronic record), paper, or election equipment’’. 12
105	105	(e) J
106	106	URISDICTIONTOCOMPELPRODUCTION.—Sec-13
107	107	tion 305 of the Civil Rights Act of 1960 (52 U.S.C. 14
108	108	20705) is amended by striking ‘‘record or paper’’ and in-15
109	109	serting ‘‘record (including electronic record), paper, or 16
110	110	election equipment’’ each place the term appears. 17
111	111	SEC. 3. JUDICIAL REVIEW FOR ELECTION RECORDS. 18
112	112	Title III of the Civil Rights Act of 1960 (52 U.S.C. 19
113	113	20701 et seq.), is amended— 20
114	114	(1) by redesignating section 306 as section 307; 21
115	115	and 22
116	116	(2) by inserting after section 305 the following: 23
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120	120	‘‘SEC. 306. JUDICIAL REVIEW TO ENSURE COMPLIANCE. 1
121	121	‘‘(a) R
122	122	IGHT OFACTION.—The Attorney General, a 2
123	123	representative of the Attorney General, or a candidate in 3
124	124	a Federal election described in section 301 may bring an 4
125	125	action in the district court of the United States for the 5
126	126	judicial district in which a record (including electronic 6
127	127	record), paper, or election equipment is located, or in the 7
128	128	United States District Court for the District of Columbia, 8
129	129	to compel compliance with the requirements of section 9
130	130	301. 10
131	131	‘‘(b) D
132	132	UTYTOEXPEDITE.—It shall be the duty of 11
133	133	the court to advance on the docket, and to expedite to 12
134	134	the greatest possible extent the disposition of, the action 13
135	135	and appeal under this section.’’. 14
136	136	SEC. 4. CRIMINAL PENALTIES FOR INTIMIDATION OF TAB-15
137	137	ULATION, CANVASS, OR CERTIFICATION EF-16
138	138	FORTS. 17
139	139	Section 12(1) of the National Voter Registration Act 18
140	140	of 1993 (52 U.S.C. 20511(1)) is amended— 19
141	141	(1) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘or’’ at 20
142	142	the end; and 21
143	143	(2) by adding at the end the following: 22
144	144	‘‘(D) processing or scanning ballots, or 23
145	145	tabulating, canvassing, or certifying voting re-24
146	146	sults; or’’. 25
147	147	Æ
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