Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB2803 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. 2803
5	5	To enhance protections for election records.
6	6	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
7	7	APRIL9, 2025
8	8	Mr. V
9	9	EASEY(for himself, Ms. ESCOBAR, Ms. NORTON, Mr. TONKO, Mr.
10	10	G
11	11	REENof Texas, and Mr. DELUZIO) introduced the following bill; which
12	12	was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the
13	13	Committee on House Administration, for a period to be subsequently de-
14	14	termined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions
15	15	as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
16	16	A BILL
17	17	To enhance protections for election records.
18	18	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
19	19	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
20	20	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
21	21	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protecting Election 4
22	22	Administration from Interference Act of 2025’’. 5
23	23	SEC. 2. ENHANCEMENT OF PROTECTIONS FOR ELECTION 6
24	24	RECORDS, PAPERS, AND EQUIPMENT. 7
25	25	(a) P
26	26	RESERVATION OF RECORDS, PAPER, AND 8
27	27	E
28	28	QUIPMENT.—Section 301 of the Civil Rights Act of 1960 9
29	29	(52 U.S.C. 20701) is amended— 10
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32	32	•HR 2803 IH
33	33	(1) by striking ‘‘Every officer’’ and inserting 1
34	34	the following: 2
35	35	‘‘(a) I
36	36	NGENERAL.—Every officer’’; 3
37	37	(2) by striking ‘‘records and papers’’ and in-4
38	38	serting ‘‘records (including electronic records), pa-5
39	39	pers, and election equipment’’ each place the term 6
40	40	appears; 7
41	41	(3) by striking ‘‘record or paper’’ and inserting 8
42	42	‘‘record (including electronic record), paper, or elec-9
43	43	tion equipment’’; 10
44	44	(4) by inserting ‘‘(but only under the direct ad-11
45	45	ministrative supervision of an election officer). Not-12
46	46	withstanding any other provision of this section, the 13
47	47	paper record of a voter’s cast ballot shall remain the 14
48	48	official record of the cast ballot for purposes of this 15
49	49	title’’ after ‘‘upon such custodian’’; 16
50	50	(5) by inserting ‘‘, or acts in reckless disregard 17
51	51	of,’’ after ‘‘fails to comply with’’; and 18
52	52	(6) by inserting after subsection (a) the fol-19
53	53	lowing: 20
54	54	‘‘(b) E
55	55	LECTIONEQUIPMENT.—The requirement in 21
56	56	subsection (a) to preserve election equipment shall not be 22
57	57	construed to prevent the reuse of such equipment in any 23
58	58	election that takes place within twenty-two months of a 24
59	59	Federal election described in subsection (a), provided that 25
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62	62	•HR 2803 IH
63	63	all electronic records, files, and data from such equipment 1
64	64	related to such Federal election are retained and pre-2
65	65	served. 3
66	66	‘‘(c) G
67	67	UIDANCE.—Not later than 1 year after the 4
68	68	date of the enactment of this subsection, the Director of 5
69	69	the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency of 6
70	70	the Department of Homeland Security, in consultation 7
71	71	with the Election Assistance Commission and the Attorney 8
72	72	General, shall issue guidance regarding compliance with 9
73	73	subsections (a) and (b), including minimum standards and 10
74	74	best practices for retaining and preserving records (includ-11
75	75	ing electronic records), papers, and election equipment in 12
76	76	compliance with subsections (a) and (b). Such guidance 13
77	77	shall also include protocols for enabling the observation 14
78	78	of the preservation, security, and transfer of records (in-15
79	79	cluding electronic records), papers, and election equipment 16
80	80	described in subsection (a) by the Attorney General and 17
81	81	by a representative of each party, as defined by the Attor-18
82	82	ney General.’’. 19
83	83	(b) P
84	84	ENALTY.—Section 302 of the Civil Rights Act 20
85	85	of 1960 (52 U.S.C. 20702) is amended— 21
86	86	(1) by inserting ‘‘, or whose reckless disregard 22
87	87	of section 301 results in the theft, destruction, con-23
88	88	cealment, mutilation, or alteration of,’’ after ‘‘or al-24
89	89	ters’’; and 25
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92	92	•HR 2803 IH
93	93	(2) by striking ‘‘record or paper’’ and inserting 1
94	94	‘‘record (including electronic record), paper, or elec-2
95	95	tion equipment’’. 3
96	96	(c) I
97	97	NSPECTION, REPRODUCTION, ANDCOPYING.— 4
98	98	Section 303 of the Civil Rights Act of 1960 (52 U.S.C. 5
99	99	20703) is amended by striking ‘‘record or paper’’ and in-6
100	100	serting ‘‘record (including electronic record), paper, or 7
101	101	election equipment’’ each place the term appears. 8
102	102	(d) N
103	103	ONDISCLOSURE.—Section 304 of the Civil 9
104	104	Rights Act of 1960 (52 U.S.C. 20704) is amended by 10
105	105	striking ‘‘record or paper’’ and inserting ‘‘record (includ-11
106	106	ing electronic record), paper, or election equipment’’. 12
107	107	(e) J
108	108	URISDICTIONTOCOMPELPRODUCTION.—Sec-13
109	109	tion 305 of the Civil Rights Act of 1960 (52 U.S.C. 14
110	110	20705) is amended by striking ‘‘record or paper’’ and in-15
111	111	serting ‘‘record (including electronic record), paper, or 16
112	112	election equipment’’ each place the term appears. 17
113	113	SEC. 3. JUDICIAL REVIEW FOR ELECTION RECORDS. 18
114	114	Title III of the Civil Rights Act of 1960 (52 U.S.C. 19
115	115	20701 et seq.), is amended— 20
116	116	(1) by redesignating section 306 as section 307; 21
117	117	and 22
118	118	(2) by inserting after section 305 the following: 23
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121	121	•HR 2803 IH
122	122	‘‘SEC. 306. JUDICIAL REVIEW TO ENSURE COMPLIANCE. 1
123	123	‘‘(a) R
124	124	IGHT OFACTION.—The Attorney General, a 2
125	125	representative of the Attorney General, or a candidate in 3
126	126	a Federal election described in section 301 may bring an 4
127	127	action in the district court of the United States for the 5
128	128	judicial district in which a record (including electronic 6
129	129	record), paper, or election equipment is located, or in the 7
130	130	United States District Court for the District of Columbia, 8
131	131	to compel compliance with the requirements of section 9
132	132	301. 10
133	133	‘‘(b) D
134	134	UTYTOEXPEDITE.—It shall be the duty of 11
135	135	the court to advance on the docket, and to expedite to 12
136	136	the greatest possible extent the disposition of, the action 13
137	137	and appeal under this section.’’. 14
138	138	SEC. 4. CRIMINAL PENALTIES FOR INTIMIDATION OF TAB-15
139	139	ULATION, CANVASS, OR CERTIFICATION EF-16
140	140	FORTS. 17
141	141	Section 12(1) of the National Voter Registration Act 18
142	142	of 1993 (52 U.S.C. 20511(1)) is amended— 19
143	143	(1) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘or’’ at 20
144	144	the end; and 21
145	145	(2) by adding at the end the following: 22
146	146	‘‘(D) processing or scanning ballots, or 23
147	147	tabulating, canvassing, or certifying voting re-24
148	148	sults; or’’. 25
149	149	Æ
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