Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB2694 Compare Versions

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

Old	New	Differences
1	1	I
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 2694
5	5	To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to establish deadlines for
6	6	States to count the ballots cast in elections for Federal office and
7	7	to certify the results of elections for Federal office, and for other pur-
8	8	poses.
9	9	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
10	10	APRIL7, 2025
11	11	Mr. O
12	12	BERNOLTE(for himself, Mr. CALVERT, Mr. KILEYof California, Mr.
13	13	F
14	14	ONG, Mr. VALADAO, Mr. ISSA, and Mr. MCCLINTOCK) introduced the
15	15	following bill; which was referred to the Committee on House Administra-
16	16	tion
17	17	A BILL
18	18	To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to establish
19	19	deadlines for States to count the ballots cast in elections
20	20	for Federal office and to certify the results of elections
21	21	for Federal office, and for other purposes.
22	22	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
23	23	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
24	24	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
25	25	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Election Results Ac-4
26	26	countability Act’’. 5
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29	29	•HR 2694 IH
30	30	SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF DEADLINES FOR COUNTING 1
31	31	BALLOTS AND CERTIFYING RESULTS OF FED-2
32	32	ERAL ELECTIONS. 3
33	33	(a) D
34	34	EADLINES.—Title III of the Help America Vote 4
35	35	Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 20181 et seq.), as amended by 5
36	36	section 2(a) of the COCOA Act of 2024, is amended— 6
37	37	(1) by redesignating sections 305 and 306 as 7
38	38	sections 306 and 307; and 8
39	39	(2) by inserting after section 304 the following 9
40	40	new section: 10
41	41	‘‘SEC. 305. DEADLINES FOR COUNTING BALLOTS AND CER-11
42	42	TIFYING RESULTS. 12
43	43	‘‘(a) D
44	44	EADLINES.— 13
45	45	‘‘(1) C
46	46	OUNTING BALLOTS.—Not later than 72 14
47	47	hours after the closing of the polls for an election for 15
48	48	Federal office held in a State, the State shall count 16
49	49	not less than 90 percent of the ballots cast in the 17
50	50	election and make the result of the count publicly 18
51	51	available. 19
52	52	‘‘(2) C
53	53	ERTIFYING RESULTS.—Not later than 2 20
54	54	weeks after the closing of the polls for an election 21
55	55	for Federal office held in a State, the State shall— 22
56	56	‘‘(A) complete the counting of all of the 23
57	57	ballots cast in the election; and 24
58	58	‘‘(B) officially certify the result of the elec-25
59	59	tion and make the result publicly available. 26
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62	62	•HR 2694 IH
63	63	‘‘(b) EXCEPTIONS.—A State shall not be considered 1
64	64	to be out of compliance with the requirements of sub-2
65	65	section (a) if the Commission and the Attorney General 3
66	66	certify that the State’s failure to meet such requirements 4
67	67	is due to any of the following: 5
68	68	‘‘(1) A bona fide emergency, including— 6
69	69	‘‘(A) a major disaster (as defined in sec-7
70	70	tion 102 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Re-8
71	71	lief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 9
72	72	5122)); 10
73	73	‘‘(B) a significant public health emergency, 11
74	74	such as a pandemic or widespread outbreak; or 12
75	75	‘‘(C) a cyberattack, data breach, or other 13
76	76	significant security threat to the election infra-14
77	77	structure. 15
78	78	‘‘(2) Technical difficulties, including— 16
79	79	‘‘(A) malfunctioning election equipment or 17
80	80	software; or 18
81	81	‘‘(B) errors in the tabulation of ballots or 19
82	82	the transmission of results that could not have 20
83	83	been reasonably anticipated or mitigated in ad-21
84	84	vance. 22
85	85	‘‘(3) The implementation of new election proce-23
86	86	dures or reforms and the State certifies that it is in 24
87	87	the process of complying with all such requirements, 25
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90	90	•HR 2694 IH
91	91	except that this paragraph applies only with respect 1
92	92	to the first election held after the implementation of 2
93	93	the new procedures or reforms. 3
94	94	‘‘(4) The conducting of a recount of the results 4
95	95	of the election. 5
96	96	‘‘(c) W
97	97	ITHHOLDING OFELECTIONADMINISTRATION 6
98	98	F
99	99	UNDS FORFAILURETOCOMPLYWITHDEADLINES.— 7
100	100	If the Commission and the Attorney General each certify 8
101	101	that a State is not in compliance with the requirements 9
102	102	of subsection (a) with respect to an election, the State may 10
103	103	not receive any funds from the Commission to support the 11
104	104	administration of subsequent elections unless— 12
105	105	‘‘(1) the State submits to the Commission and 13
106	106	the Attorney General a plan to ensure that the State 14
107	107	will comply with such requirements with respect to 15
108	108	such subsequent elections; and 16
109	109	‘‘(2) the Commission and the Attorney General 17
110	110	each certify that the State has taken actions to com-18
111	111	ply with such plan.’’. 19
112	112	(b) C
113	113	ONFORMINGAMENDMENTRELATING TOEXIST-20
114	114	INGENFORCEMENT PROVISIONS.—Section 401 of such 21
115	115	Act (52 U.S.C. 21111), as amended by section 2(b) of the 22
116	116	COCOA Act of 2024, is amended by striking ‘‘and 304’’ 23
117	117	and inserting ‘‘304, and 305’’. 24
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120	120	•HR 2694 IH
121	121	(c) CLERICALAMENDMENT.—The table of contents 1
122	122	of such Act, as amended by section 2(c) of the COCOA 2
123	123	Act of 2024, is amended— 3
124	124	(1) by redesignating the items relating to sec-4
125	125	tions 305 and 306 as relating to section 306 and 5
126	126	307; and 6
127	127	(2) by inserting after the item relating to sec-7
128	128	tion 304 the following: 8
129	129	‘‘Sec. 305. Deadlines for counting ballots and certifying results.’’.
130	130	(d) EFFECTIVEDATE.—This Act and the amend-9
131	131	ments made by this Act shall apply with respect to elec-10
132	132	tions held after the expiration of the 90-day period which 11
133	133	begins on the date of the enactment of this Act. 12
134	134	Æ
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