II 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4920 

To provide enhanced protections for election workers. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 22, 2022 

Ms. KLOBUCHAR (for herself, Mr. KING, Mr. BENNET, Mr. HICKENLOOPER, 

Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr. WARNER, Mr. LEAHY, Mr. PADILLA, Mr. 

MERKLEY, Mr. SANDERS, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. LUJA ́N, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, 

Ms. HIRONO, Mrs. MURRAY, Ms. STABENOW, Mrs. SHAHEEN, Ms. 

SMITH, and Mr. DURBIN) introduced the following bill; which was read 

twice and referred to the Committee on Rules and Administration 

A BILL 

To provide enhanced protections for election workers. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Election Worker Pro5 tection Act of 2022’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 

8 (1) ELECTION WORKER.—The term ‘‘election 

9 worker’’ means an individual who is an election offi10 cial, poll worker, or an election volunteer in connecVerDate Sep 11 2014 16:50 Oct 03, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4920.IS S4920

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1 tion with the administration of an election for a 

2 Federal office. 

3 (2) PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMA4 TION.—The term ‘‘personally identifiable informa5 tion’’ has the meaning given the term ‘‘restricted 

6 personal information’’ in section 119 of title 18, 

7 United States Code. 

8 SEC. 3. GRANTS TO STATES FOR ELECTION WORKER RE9 CRUITMENT, TRAINING, AND SAFETY. 

10 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle D of title II of the Help 

11 America Vote Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 21001 et seq.) is 

12 amended by adding at the end the following: 

13 ‘‘PART 7—ELECTION WORKER RECRUITMENT, 

14 TRAINING, AND SAFETY 

15 ‘‘SEC. 297. GRANTS TO STATES FOR POLL WORKER AND 

16 ELECTION VOLUNTEER RECRUITMENT AND 

17 TRAINING. 

18 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the 

19 date of enactment of the Election Worker Protection Act 

20 of 2022, the Commission shall, subject to the availability 

21 of appropriations provided to carry out this section, make 

22 a grant to each eligible State for recruiting and training 

23 individuals to serve as poll workers and election volunteers 

24 on dates of elections for public office. 


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1 ‘‘(b) USE OF COMMISSION MATERIALS AND TRAIN2 ING PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT.— 

3 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In carrying out activities 

4 using funds under a grant provided under this sec5 tion, the recipient of the grant shall— 

6 ‘‘(A) use the materials prepared by the 

7 Commission on successful practices for poll 

8 worker and election volunteer recruiting, train9 ing, and retention as an interactive training 

10 tool; and 

11 ‘‘(B) develop training programs with the 

12 participation and input of experts in adult 

13 learning. 

14 ‘‘(2) ACCESS AND CULTURAL CONSIDER15 ATIONS.—The Commission shall ensure that the ma16 terials described in paragraph (1)(A) provide train17 ing in methods that will enable poll workers and 

18 election volunteers to provide access and delivery of 

19 services that meet the unique needs of each voter in 

20 a culturally competent manner with respect to each 

21 voter who uses the services, including voters who 

22 have limited English proficiency, are of diverse cul23 tural or ethnic backgrounds, or have disabilities, re24 gardless of gender, sexual orientation, or gender 

25 identity. 


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1 ‘‘(c) REQUIREMENTS FOR ELIGIBILITY.— 

2 ‘‘(1) APPLICATION.—Each State that desires to 

3 receive a payment under this section shall submit an 

4 application for the payment to the Commission at 

5 such time, in such manner, and containing such in6 formation as the Commission may reasonably re7 quire. 

8 ‘‘(2) CONTENTS OF APPLICATION.—Each appli9 cation submitted under paragraph (1) shall— 

10 ‘‘(A) describe the activities for which as11 sistance under this section is sought; 

12 ‘‘(B) provide assurances that— 

13 ‘‘(i) the funds provided under this sec14 tion will be used to supplement and not 

15 supplant other funds used to carry out the 

16 activities; 

17 ‘‘(ii) the State will furnish the Com18 mission with information about individuals 

19 who served as poll workers and election 

20 volunteers after recruitment and training 

21 with the funds provided under this section; 

22 and 

23 ‘‘(iii) the State will dedicate poll work24 er and election volunteer recruitment ef25 forts with respect to— 


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1 ‘‘(I) youth and minors, including 

2 by recruiting at institutions of higher 

3 education and secondary education; 

4 and 

5 ‘‘(II) diversity, including with re6 spect to race, ethnicity, and disability; 

7 and 

8 ‘‘(C) provide such additional information 

9 and certifications as the Commission deter10 mines to be essential to ensure compliance with 

11 the requirements of this section. 

12 ‘‘(d) AMOUNT OF GRANT.— 

13 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The amount of a grant 

14 made to a State under this section shall be equal to 

15 the product of— 

16 ‘‘(A) the aggregate amount made available 

17 for grants to States under this section; and 

18 ‘‘(B) the voting age population percentage 

19 for the State. 

20 ‘‘(2) VOTING AGE POPULATION PERCENTAGE

21 DEFINED.—In paragraph (1), the ‘voting age popu22 lation percentage’ for a State is the quotient of— 

23 ‘‘(A) the voting age population of the State 

24 (as determined on the basis of the most recent 


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1 information available from the Bureau of the 

2 Census); and 

3 ‘‘(B) the total voting age population of all 

4 States (as determined on the basis of the most 

5 recent information available from the Bureau of 

6 the Census). 

7 ‘‘(e) RULES FOR STATES THAT DO NOT SUBMIT AN

8 APPLICATION AND GRANTS TO POLITICAL SUBDIVI9 SIONS.— 

10 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—If a State fails to submit 

11 an application under subsection (c) at the time es12 tablished by the Commission for such submission, 

13 the Commission may offer to political subdivisions 

14 within that State the opportunity to apply for a pay15 ment under this section. 

16 ‘‘(2) CONTENTS OF APPLICATION.—Each appli17 cation submitted under paragraph (1) shall— 

18 ‘‘(A) describe the activities for which as19 sistance under this section is sought; 

20 ‘‘(B) provide assurances that— 

21 ‘‘(i) the funds provided under this sec22 tion will be used to supplement and not 

23 supplant other funds used to carry out the 

24 activities; 


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1 ‘‘(ii) the political subdivision will fur2 nish the Commission with information 

3 about individuals who served as poll work4 ers and election volunteers after recruit5 ment and training with the funds provided 

6 under this section; and 

7 ‘‘(iii) the political subdivision will 

8 dedicate poll worker and election volunteer 

9 recruitment efforts with respect to— 

10 ‘‘(I) youth and minors, including 

11 by recruiting at institutions of higher 

12 education and secondary education; 

13 and 

14 ‘‘(II) diversity, including with re15 spect to race, ethnicity, and disability; 

16 and 

17 ‘‘(C) provide such additional information 

18 and certifications as the Commission deter19 mines to be essential to ensure compliance with 

20 the requirements of this section. 

21 ‘‘(3) AMOUNT OF GRANTS FOR POLITICAL SUB22 DIVISIONS.—The amount of a grant made to a polit23 ical subdivision under this subsection shall be an 

24 amount that bears the same proportion to the 


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1 amount determined with respect to the State in 

2 which the political subdivision is located as— 

3 ‘‘(A) the aggregate amount made available 

4 for grants to States under this section; and 

5 ‘‘(B) the voting age population percentage 

6 for the political subdivision of the State. 

7 ‘‘(f) REPORTS TO CONGRESS.— 

8 ‘‘(1) RELEVANT COMMITTEES.—In this sub9 section, the term ‘relevant committees’ means— 

10 ‘‘(A) the Committees on Rules and Admin11 istration and Appropriations of the Senate; and 

12 ‘‘(B) the Committees on Administration 

13 and Appropriations of the House of Representa14 tives. 

15 ‘‘(2) REPORTS BY RECIPIENTS OF GRANTS.— 

16 Not later than 180 days after the date on which the 

17 Commission makes a final grant to a State under 

18 this section, the recipient shall submit a report to 

19 the Commission on the activities the State conducted 

20 with the funds provided under the grant. 

21 ‘‘(3) REPORTS BY COMMISSION.—Not later 

22 than 1 year after the date on which the Commission 

23 makes the final grant under this section, the Com24 mission shall submit a report to the relevant com25 mittees regarding— 


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1 ‘‘(A) the grants made under this section; 

2 ‘‘(B) the activities carried out by recipients 

3 using funds provided under the grants; and 

4 ‘‘(C) such recommendations relating to re5 cruitment and training of election workers as 

6 the Commission considers appropriate. 

7 ‘‘(g) FUNDING.— 

8 ‘‘(1) AUTHORIZATION.—There is authorized to 

9 be appropriated to the Commission for fiscal year 

10 2023 and each succeeding fiscal year such sums as 

11 may be necessary for payments under this section, 

12 to remain available until expended. 

13 ‘‘(2) ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES.—Of the 

14 amount appropriated for any fiscal year to carry out 

15 this section, not more than 3 percent shall be avail16 able for administrative expenses of the Commission. 

17 ‘‘SEC. 298. GRANTS TO STATES FOR ELECTION WORKER 

18 SAFETY. 

19 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the 

20 date of enactment of the Election Worker Protection Act 

21 of 2022, the Commission shall, subject to the availability 

22 of appropriations provided to carry out this section, make 

23 a grant to each eligible State for physical security services 

24 and social media threat monitoring for election workers. 

25 ‘‘(b) REQUIREMENTS FOR ELIGIBILITY.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) APPLICATION.—Each State that desires to 

2 receive a payment under this section shall submit an 

3 application for the payment to the Commission at 

4 such time, in such manner, and containing such in5 formation as the Commission may reasonably re6 quire. 

7 ‘‘(2) CONTENTS OF APPLICATION.—Each appli8 cation submitted under paragraph (1) shall— 

9 ‘‘(A) describe the activities for which as10 sistance under this section is sought; and 

11 ‘‘(B) provide assurances that— 

12 ‘‘(i) the funds provided under this sec13 tion will be used to supplement and not 

14 supplant other funds used to carry out the 

15 activities; and 

16 ‘‘(ii) the State will furnish the Com17 mission with information on the number of 

18 individuals provided services under this 

19 section. 

20 ‘‘(c) RULES FOR STATES THAT DO NOT SUBMIT AN

21 APPLICATION AND GRANTS TO POLITICAL SUBDIVI22 SIONS.— 

23 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—If a State fails to submit 

24 an application under subsection (b) at the time es25 tablished by the Commission for such submission, 


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1 the Commission may offer to political subdivisions 

2 within that State the opportunity to apply for a pay3 ment under this section. 

4 ‘‘(2) CONTENTS OF APPLICATION.—Each appli5 cation submitted under paragraph (1) shall— 

6 ‘‘(A) describe the activities for which as7 sistance under this section is sought; and 

8 ‘‘(B) provide assurances that— 

9 ‘‘(i) the funds provided under this sec10 tion will be used to supplement and not 

11 supplant other funds used to carry out the 

12 activities; and 

13 ‘‘(ii) the political subdivision will fur14 nish the Commission with information on 

15 the number of individuals provided services 

16 under this section. 

17 ‘‘(3) AMOUNT OF GRANTS FOR POLITICAL SUB18 DIVISIONS.—The amount of a grant made to a polit19 ical subdivision under this subsection shall be an 

20 amount that bears the same proportion to the 

21 amount determined with respect to the State in 

22 which the political subdivision is located as— 

23 ‘‘(A) the aggregate amount made available 

24 for grants to States under this section; and 


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1 ‘‘(B) the voting age population percentage 

2 for the political subdivision of the State. 

3 ‘‘(d) REPORTS TO CONGRESS.— 

4 ‘‘(1) RELEVANT COMMITTEES.—In this sub5 section, the term ‘relevant committees’ means— 

6 ‘‘(A) the Committees on Rules and Admin7 istration and Appropriations of the Senate; and 

8 ‘‘(B) the Committees on Administration 

9 and Appropriations of the House of Representa10 tives. 

11 ‘‘(2) REPORTS BY RECIPIENTS OF GRANTS.— 

12 Not later than 180 days after the date on which the 

13 Commission makes a final grant to a State under 

14 this section, the recipient shall submit a report to 

15 the Commission on the activities the State conducted 

16 with the funds provided under the grant. 

17 ‘‘(3) REPORTS BY COMMISSION.—Not later 

18 than 1 year after the date on which the Commission 

19 makes the final grant under this section, the Com20 mission shall submit a report to the relevant com21 mittees regarding— 

22 ‘‘(A) the grants made under this section; 

23 ‘‘(B) the activities carried out by recipients 

24 using funds provided under the grants; and 


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1 ‘‘(C) such recommendations for physical 

2 security services and social media threat moni3 toring as the Commission considers appropriate. 

4 ‘‘(e) FUNDING.—There is authorized to be appro5 priated to the Commission for fiscal year 2023 and each 

6 succeeding fiscal year such sums as may be necessary for 

7 payments under this section, to remain available until ex8 pended.’’. 

9 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 

10 of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 is amended by add11 ing at the end of the items relating to subtitle D of title 

12 II the following: 

‘‘PART 7—ELECTION WORKER RECRUITMENT, TRAINING, AND SAFETY

‘‘Sec. 297. Grants to States for election worker recruitment and training 

‘‘Sec. 298. Grants to States for election worker safety.’’. 

13 SEC. 4. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE TRAINING RESOURCES 

14 FOR ADDRESSING THREATS TO ELECTION 

15 WORKERS. 

16 (a) REVIEW.—Not later than 180 days after the date 

17 of enactment of this Act, the Attorney General shall review 

18 training resources provided to Federal, State, local, and 

19 Tribal law enforcement agencies and ensure that the De20 partment of Justice offers programs that include training 

21 and resources to assist State, local, and Tribal law en22 forcement agencies in understanding, detecting, deterring, 

23 and investigating threats to election workers. 


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1 (b) TRAINING.—The Attorney General shall make 

2 training available to Department prosecutors and to As3 sistant United States Attorneys on countering and pros4 ecuting threats to election workers. 

5 SEC. 5. GRANT PROGRAM TO PREVENT DISCLOSURE OF 

6 PERSONAL INFORMATION OF ELECTION 

7 WORKERS. 

8 (a) AUTHORIZATION.—Not later than 1 year after 

9 the date of enactment of this Act, the Attorney General 

10 shall establish a program to provide grants to create or 

11 expand programs designed to protect the personally identi12 fiable information of election workers to entities that— 

13 (1) are— 

14 (A) States or units of local government (as 

15 those terms are defined in section 901 of the 

16 Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 

17 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10251)); or 

18 (B) agencies of States or units of local 

19 government; and 

20 (2) operate a State or local database or registry 

21 that contains personally identifiable information. 

22 (b) APPLICATION.—Each entity described in sub23 section (a) that desires a payment under this section shall 

24 submit to the Attorney General an application at such 


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1 time, in such manner, and containing such information as 

2 the Attorney General may reasonably require. 

3 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

4 authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be nec5 essary to provide grants to entities described in subsection 

6 (a) to create or expand programs designed to protect the 

7 personally identifiable information of election workers, in8 cluding through— 

9 (1) the creation of programs to redact or re10 move the personally identifiable information of elec11 tion workers, upon request, from public records 

12 maintained by State agencies, including by hiring 

13 third parties to redact or remove the personally iden14 tifiable information of election workers from public 

15 records; 

16 (2) the expansion of existing programs to pro17 tect personally identifiable information of election 

18 workers; 

19 (3) the development or improvement of proto20 cols, procedures, and policies to prevent the release 

21 of personally identifiable information of election 

22 workers; 

23 (4) the defrayment of costs of modifying or im24 proving existing databases and registries to ensure 


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1 that personally identifiable information of election 

2 workers is protected from release; and 

3 (5) the development of confidential opt-out sys4 tems that allow election workers to request that per5 sonally identifiable information is not included in 

6 publicly accessible databases or registries. 

7 (d) REPORT.— 

8 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 2 years after 

9 the date of enactment of this Act, and biennially 

10 thereafter, the Comptroller General of the United 

11 States shall submit to the Committee on the Judici12 ary of the Senate and the Committee on the Judici13 ary of the House of Representatives an annual re14 port that includes a detailed description of the 

15 amount spent by States and local governments using 

16 funds under this section relating to protection of 

17 personally identifiable information of election work18 ers. 

19 (2) STATES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS.—Not 

20 later than 180 days after the date on which a State 

21 or local government receives funds under this sec22 tion, the State or local government shall submit to 

23 the Comptroller General a report that, with respect 

24 to that State or local government, contains the inforVerDate Sep 11 2014 16:50 Oct 03, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00016 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4920.IS S4920

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1 mation described in paragraph (1) to be included in 

2 the report required under that paragraph. 

3 SEC. 6. HARASSMENT OF ELECTION WORKERS PROHIB4 ITED. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 29 of title 18, United 

6 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol7 lowing new section: 

8 ‘‘§ 613. Harassment of election workers 

9 ‘‘(a) ELECTION WORKER.—For purposes of this sec10 tion, the term ‘election worker’ means an individual who 

11 is an election official, poll worker, or election volunteer in 

12 connection with an election for a Federal office. 

13 ‘‘(b) HARASSMENT OF ELECTION WORKERS.—It 

14 shall be unlawful for any person, whether acting under 

15 color of law or otherwise, to intimidate, threaten, coerce, 

16 or attempt to intimidate, threaten, or coerce an election 

17 worker with intent to impede, intimidate, or interfere with 

18 that election worker while the election worker is engaged 

19 in the performance of official duties, or with intent to re20 taliate against the election worker on the basis of the per21 formance of such duties. 

22 ‘‘(c) PENALTY.—Any person who violates subsection 

23 (b) shall be fined not more than $100,000, imprisoned for 

24 not more than 5 years, or both. 


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1 ‘‘(d) SPECIAL AGENTS.—The Attorney General, act2 ing through the Director of the Federal Bureau of Inves3 tigation, shall assign a special agent to each field office 

4 of the Federal Bureau of Investigation to investigate 

5 threats against election workers.’’. 

6 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 

7 for chapter 29 of title 18, United States Code, is amended 

8 by adding at the end the following: 

‘‘613. Harassment of election workers.’’. 

9 SEC. 7. MAKING INTIMIDATION OF TABULATION, CANVAS, 

10 AND CERTIFICATION EFFORTS A CRIME. 

11 Section 12(1) of the National Voter Registration Act 

12 of 1993 (52 U.S.C. 20511) is amended— 

13 (1) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘; or’’ at 

14 the end; and 

15 (2) by adding at the end the following new sub16 paragraph: 

17 ‘‘(D) processing or scanning ballots, or 

18 tabulating, canvassing, or certifying voting re19 sults; or’’. 

20 SEC. 8. PROHIBITION OF DOXXING OF ELECTION WORKERS. 

21 Section 119(b)(2) of title 18, United States Code, is 

22 amended by adding at the end the following: 

23 ‘‘(E) or an election official, poll worker, or 

24 an election volunteer in connection with an elec25 tion for a Federal office.’’. 


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1 SEC. 9. PREVENTING POLL OBSERVER INTERFERENCE. 

2 (a) VOTER PROTECTION REQUIREMENTS.—Subtitle 

3 A of title III of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (52 

4 U.S.C. 21081 et seq.) is amended by inserting after sec5 tion 303 the following new section: 

6 ‘‘SEC. 303A. VOTER PROTECTION REQUIREMENTS. 

7 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—A State or local election official 

8 may remove a poll observer from a polling location for an 

9 election for Federal office or any location where proc10 essing, scanning, tabulating, canvassing, or certifying vot11 ing results in such an election is occurring on the basis 

12 that the State or local election official has a reasonable 

13 basis to believe that the observer— 

14 ‘‘(1) has engaged in, or imminently will engage 

15 in, intimidation or deceptive practices prohibited by 

16 Federal law; or 

17 ‘‘(2) has disrupted, or will disrupt, the voting, 

18 processing, scanning, tabulating, or canvassing of 

19 ballots or the certification of results. 

20 ‘‘(b) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in sub21 section (a) may be construed to prevent a State or a unit 

22 of local government in a State from permitting the re23 moval of a poll observer for reasons other than those de24 scribed in subsection (a). 

25 ‘‘(c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section shall apply 

26 with respect to elections for Federal office occurring on 


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1 and after the date of enactment of the Election Worker 

2 Protection Act of 2022.’’. 

3 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT RELATING TO VOL4 UNTARY GUIDANCE.—Section 311(b) of the Help America 

5 Vote Act of 2022 (52 U.S.C. 21101(b)) is amended— 

6 (1) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 

7 end; 

8 (2) in paragraph (3), by striking the period at 

9 the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

10 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

11 ‘‘(4) in the case of recommendations with re12 spect to section 303A, January 1, 2024.’’. 

13 (c) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 

14 of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 is amended by in15 serting after the item relating to section 303 the following: 

‘‘Sec. 303A. Voter protection requirements.’’. 

Æ 


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