I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7905 

To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to direct the Election Assistance Commission to make payments to States to assist in administering 

elections during the COVID–19 Pandemic, to direct the Election Assistance Commission to adopt voluntary guidelines for use of nonvoting 

election technology, to prohibit payments under such Act to States which 

do not prohibit ballot harvesting, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 31, 2020 

Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois (for himself, Mr. YOUNG, Mr. GARCIA of California, Mr. CHABOT, Ms. STEFANIK, Mr. MEUSER, Mr. NUNES, Mr. 

MCCAUL, Mr. CALVERT, Mr. GUTHRIE, and Mr. DIAZ-BALART) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on House 

Administration, and in addition to the Committee on Science, Space, and 

Technology, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, 

in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to direct 

the Election Assistance Commission to make payments 

to States to assist in administering elections during the 

COVID–19 Pandemic, to direct the Election Assistance 

Commission to adopt voluntary guidelines for use of nonvoting election technology, to prohibit payments under 

such Act to States which do not prohibit ballot harvesting, and for other purposes. 


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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; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 

5 ‘‘Emergency Assistance for Safe Elections Act’’ or the 

6 ‘‘EASE Act’’. 

7 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents of 

8 this Act is as follows: 

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 

TITLE I—FUNDING FOR ELECTION ADMINISTRATION 

Sec. 101. Payments to States to assist in administering elections during 

COVID–19 Pandemic. 

‘‘PART 7—ASSISTANCE IN ADMINISTERING ELECTIONS DURING COVID–19 

PANDEMIC

‘‘Sec. 297. Student loan repayments on behalf of volunteer poll workers 

and absentee ballot tabulators in 2020 general elections. 

‘‘Sec. 297A. Voter registration list maintenance. 

‘‘Sec. 297B. Protection from COVID–19. 

‘‘Sec. 297C. General provisions. 

Sec. 102. Sense of Congress regarding exclusion of poll worker income from determination of eligibility for unemployment insurance. 

TITLE II—VOTING TECHNOLOGY 

Sec. 201. Voluntary guidelines for use of nonvoting election technology. 

‘‘Subtitle E—Voluntary Guidelines for Use of Nonvoting Election Technology 

‘‘Sec. 298. Adoption of voluntary guidelines by Commission. 

‘‘Sec. 298A. Emerging Election Technology Committee. 

‘‘Sec. 298B. Nonvoting election technology defined. 

Sec. 202. Status reports by National Institute of Standards and Technology. 

Sec. 203. Establishment of Election Cyber Assistance Unit in Election Assistance Commission. 

Sec. 204. Certification program in election administration or cybersecurity. 

TITLE III—ELECTION FRAUD PREVENTION 

Sec. 301. Findings. 

Sec. 302. Prohibition on payments to States allowing collection and transmission of ballots by certain third parties. 


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1 TITLE I—FUNDING FOR 

2 ELECTION ADMINISTRATION 

3 SEC. 101. PAYMENTS TO STATES TO ASSIST IN ADMIN4 ISTERING ELECTIONS DURING COVID–19 PAN5 DEMIC. 

6 (a) PAYMENTS.—Subtitle D of title II of the Help 

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

8 amended by adding at the end the following new part: 

9 ‘‘PART 7—ASSISTANCE IN ADMINISTERING 

10 ELECTIONS DURING COVID–19 PANDEMIC 

11 ‘‘SEC. 297. STUDENT LOAN REPAYMENTS ON BEHALF OF 

12 VOLUNTEER POLL WORKERS AND ABSENTEE 

13 BALLOT TABULATORS IN 2020 GENERAL 

14 ELECTIONS. 

15 ‘‘(a) REPAYMENTS BY ELECTION ASSISTANCE COM16 MISSION.—The Commission shall make a payment to each 

17 eligible State for the costs incurred by the State in repay18 ing (by direct payments on behalf of a qualified student 

19 volunteer) a portion of a student loan previously taken out 

20 by an individual who serves as a qualified student volun21 teer with respect to a regularly scheduled general election 

22 for Federal office held in the State in November 2020. 

23 ‘‘(b) ELIGIBILITY.—A State is eligible to receive a 

24 payment under this section if the State submits to the 

25 Commission, at such time and in such form as the ComVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:31 Aug 22, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7905.IH H7905

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1 mission may require, an application containing such infor2 mation and assurances as the Commission may require. 

3 ‘‘(c) AMOUNT OF REPAYMENT.—Subject to the 

4 amount of the payment made to the State under sub5 section (d), the amount of the costs the State incurs on 

6 behalf of a qualified student volunteer for purposes of sub7 section (a) shall be equal to the product of— 

8 ‘‘(1) a repayment rate established by the Com9 mission; and 

10 ‘‘(2) the number of hours the volunteer serves 

11 as a volunteer poll worker or as a volunteer absentee 

12 ballot tabulator, as certified to the Commission by 

13 the appropriate State or local election official. 

14 ‘‘(d) AMOUNT OF PAYMENT.— 

15 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), 

16 the amount of a payment made to a State under this 

17 section shall be equal to the product of— 

18 ‘‘(A) the total amount appropriated for 

19 such payments pursuant to the authorization 

20 under subsection (e); and 

21 ‘‘(B) the State allocation percentage for 

22 the State. 

23 ‘‘(2) MINIMUM AMOUNT OF PAYMENT.—The 

24 amount of a payment made to a State under this 

25 section may not be less than— 


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1 ‘‘(A) in the case of any of the several 

2 States or the District of Columbia, one-half of 

3 1 percent of the total amount appropriated for 

4 such payments; or 

5 ‘‘(B) in the case of the Commonwealth of 

6 Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the 

7 United States Virgin Islands, and the Common8 wealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, one9 tenth of 1 percent of such total amount. 

10 ‘‘(3) PRO RATA REDUCTIONS.—The Commis11 sion shall make such pro rata reductions to the allo12 cations determined under paragraph (1) as are nec13 essary to comply with the requirements of paragraph 

14 (2). 

15 ‘‘(e) QUALIFIED STUDENT VOLUNTEER DEFINED.— 

16 In this section, a ‘qualified student volunteer’ means an 

17 individual— 

18 ‘‘(1) who, as certified to the Commission by the 

19 appropriate State or local election official, serves— 

20 ‘‘(A) as a volunteer poll worker at a polling 

21 place, including any location at which voters 

22 may cast ballots prior to the date of the elec23 tion, or 


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1 ‘‘(B) as a volunteer absentee ballot tab2 ulator, as certified to the Commission by the 

3 appropriate State or local election official; and 

4 ‘‘(2) at the time of serving as a volunteer poll 

5 worker or volunteer absentee ballot tabulator, is en6 rolled at an institution of higher education (as de7 fined in section 102 of the Higher Education Act of 

8 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1002)). 

9 ‘‘(f) APPLICATION OF REGULATIONS UNDER STU10 DENT LOAN REPAYMENT PROGRAM FOR FEDERAL EM11 PLOYEES.—In carrying out the program under this sec12 tion, the Commission may make applicable such provisions 

13 of section 5379 of title 5, United States Code, as the Com14 mission considers appropriate. 

15 ‘‘(g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

16 are authorized to be appropriated $100,000,000 for pay17 ments under this section. 

18 ‘‘SEC. 297A. VOTER REGISTRATION LIST MAINTENANCE. 

19 ‘‘(a) PAYMENTS.— 

20 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall 

21 make a payment to each eligible State for carrying 

22 out maintenance of the computerized Statewide 

23 voter registration list under section 303 and car24 rying out programs under section 8 of the National 

25 Voter Registration Act of 1993 (52 U.S.C. 20507) 


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1 to ensure the accuracy of voter registration lists in 

2 the State. 

3 ‘‘(2) AVAILABILITY OF PAYMENTS TO STATES

4 WITHOUT VOTER REGISTRATION.—In the case of an 

5 eligible State in which, under a State law in effect 

6 continuously on and after the date of the enactment 

7 of this Act, there is no voter registration require8 ment for individuals in the State with respect to 

9 elections for Federal office, an eligible State shall 

10 use the payment under this section for carrying out 

11 activities to protect polling places in the State, and 

12 individuals present in such polling places, from expo13 sure to SARS–CoV–2 or COVID–19 (as described in 

14 section 297B). 

15 ‘‘(b) ELIGIBILITY.—A State is eligible to receive a 

16 payment under this section if the State submits to the 

17 Commission, at such time and in such form as the Com18 mission may require, an application containing such infor19 mation and assurances as the Commission may require. 

20 ‘‘(c) AMOUNT OF PAYMENT.— 

21 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), 

22 the amount of a payment made to a State under this 

23 section shall be equal to the product of— 


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1 ‘‘(A) the total amount appropriated for 

2 such payments pursuant to the authorization 

3 under subsection (d); and 

4 ‘‘(B) the State allocation percentage for 

5 the State. 

6 ‘‘(2) MINIMUM AMOUNT OF PAYMENT.—The 

7 amount of a payment made to a State under this 

8 section may not be less than— 

9 ‘‘(A) in the case of any of the several 

10 States or the District of Columbia, one-half of 

11 1 percent of the total amount appropriated for 

12 such payments; or 

13 ‘‘(B) in the case of the Commonwealth of 

14 Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the 

15 United States Virgin Islands, and the Common16 wealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, one17 tenth of 1 percent of such total amount. 

18 ‘‘(3) PRO RATA REDUCTIONS.—The Commis19 sion shall make such pro rata reductions to the allo20 cations determined under paragraph (1) as are nec21 essary to comply with the requirements of paragraph 

22 (2). 

23 ‘‘(d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

24 are authorized to be appropriated $100,000,000 for pay25 ments under this section. 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 297B. PROTECTION FROM COVID–19. 

2 ‘‘(a) PAYMENTS.—The Commission shall make the 

3 following payments to each eligible State: 

4 ‘‘(1) A payment for the chief State election offi5 cial to for carrying out Statewide activities to pro6 tect polling places in the State, and individuals 

7 present in such polling places, from exposure to 

8 SARS–CoV–2 or COVID–19. 

9 ‘‘(2) A payment for the chief State election offi10 cial to pass through to local jurisdictions in the 

11 State for carrying out a plan prepared by the chief 

12 State election official and approved by the Commis13 sion to protect polling places in the jurisdiction, and 

14 individuals present in such polling places, from expo15 sure to SARS–CoV–2 or COVID–19. 

16 ‘‘(b) ELIGIBILITY.—A State is eligible to receive a 

17 payment under this section if the State submits to the 

18 Commission, at such time and in such form as the Com19 mission may require, an application containing such infor20 mation and assurances as the Commission may require. 

21 ‘‘(c) AMOUNT OF PAYMENT.— 

22 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), 

23 the amount of a payment made to a State under 

24 paragraph (1) or paragraph (2) of subsection (a) 

25 shall be equal to the product of— 


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1 ‘‘(A) the total amount appropriated for 

2 payments under such paragraph pursuant to 

3 the authorization under subsection (d); and 

4 ‘‘(B) the State allocation percentage for 

5 the State. 

6 ‘‘(2) MINIMUM AMOUNT OF PAYMENT.—The 

7 amount of a payment made to a State under para8 graph (1) or paragraph (2) of subsection (a) may 

9 not be less than— 

10 ‘‘(A) in the case of any of the several 

11 States or the District of Columbia, one-half of 

12 1 percent of the total amount appropriated for 

13 payments under such paragraph; or 

14 ‘‘(B) in the case of the Commonwealth of 

15 Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the 

16 United States Virgin Islands, and the Common17 wealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, one18 tenth of 1 percent of such total amount. 

19 ‘‘(3) PRO RATA REDUCTIONS.—The Commis20 sion shall make such pro rata reductions to the allo21 cations determined under paragraph (1) as are nec22 essary to comply with the requirements of paragraph 

23 (2). 


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1 ‘‘(d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

2 are authorized to be appropriated $200,000,000 for pay3 ments under this section, of which— 

4 ‘‘(1) $100,000,000 is authorized to be appro5 priated for payments under paragraph (1) of sub6 section (a); and 

7 ‘‘(2) $100,000,000 is authorized to be appro8 priated for payments under paragraph (2) of sub9 section (a). 

10 ‘‘SEC. 297C. GENERAL PROVISIONS. 

11 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.— 

12 ‘‘(1) STATE.—In this part, the term ‘State’ 

13 means each State, the District of Columbia, the 

14 Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, American Samoa, 

15 Guam, the United States Virgin Islands, and the 

16 Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. 

17 ‘‘(2) STATE ALLOCATION PERCENTAGE.—In 

18 this part, the term ‘State allocation percentage’ 

19 means, with respect to a State, the amount (ex20 pressed as a percentage) equal to the quotient of— 

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

22 (as reported in the most recent decennial cen23 sus); and 


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

2 States (as reported in the most recent decennial 

3 census). 

4 ‘‘(b) CONTINUING AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS AFTER

5 APPROPRIATION.—A payment made to a State under this 

6 part shall be available to the State without fiscal year limi7 tation.’’. 

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

9 of such Act is amended by adding at the end of the items 

10 relating to subtitle D of title II the following: 

‘‘PART 7—ASSISTANCE IN ADMINISTERING ELECTIONS DURING COVID–19 

PANDEMIC

‘‘Sec. 297. Student loan repayments on behalf of volunteer poll workers and absentee ballot tabulators in 2020 general elections. 

‘‘Sec. 297A. Voter registration list maintenance. 

‘‘Sec. 297B. Protection from COVID–19. 

‘‘Sec. 297C. General provisions.’’. 

11 SEC. 102. SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING EXCLUSION OF 

12 POLL WORKER INCOME FROM DETERMINA13 TION OF ELIGIBILITY FOR UNEMPLOYMENT 

14 INSURANCE. 

15 Because the Nation is in an unprecedented battle 

16 against COVID–19, it is the Sense of Congress that State 

17 legislatures should be encouraged to revisit their unem18 ployment insurance systems to ensure that any volunteer 

19 who receives compensation for services as a poll worker 

20 does not fail to qualify for such unemployment insurance 

21 solely on the basis of service as a poll worker. 


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1 TITLE II—VOTING TECHNOLOGY 

2 SEC. 201. VOLUNTARY GUIDELINES FOR USE OF NON3 VOTING ELECTION TECHNOLOGY. 

4 (a) ADOPTION OF VOLUNTARY GUIDELINES BY

5 ELECTION ASSISTANCE COMMISSION.—Title II of the 

6 Help America Vote Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 20921 et seq.) 

7 is amended by adding at the end the following new sub8 title: 

9 ‘‘Subtitle E—Voluntary Guidelines 

10 for Use of Nonvoting Election 

11 Technology 

12 ‘‘SEC. 298. ADOPTION OF VOLUNTARY GUIDELINES BY COM13 MISSION. 

14 ‘‘(a) ADOPTION.—The Commission shall adopt vol15 untary guidelines for election officials on the use of non16 voting election technology, taking into account the rec17 ommendations of the Emerging Election Technology Com18 mittee under section 298A. 

19 ‘‘(b) REVIEW.—The Commission shall review and up20 date the guidelines adopted under this subtitle not less fre21 quently than once every 2 years. 

22 ‘‘(c) PROCESS FOR ADOPTION.—The adoption of the 

23 voluntary guidelines under this subtitle shall be carried 

24 out by the Commission in a manner that provides for each 

25 of the following: 


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1 ‘‘(1) Publication of notice of the proposed 

2 guidelines in the Federal Register. 

3 ‘‘(2) An opportunity for public comment on the 

4 proposed guidelines. 

5 ‘‘(3) An opportunity for a public hearing on the 

6 record. 

7 ‘‘(4) Publication of the final recommendations 

8 in the Federal Register. 

9 ‘‘(d) DEADLINE FOR INITIAL SET OF GUIDELINES.— 

10 The Commission shall adopt the initial set of voluntary 

11 guidelines under this section not later than June 1, 2021. 

12 ‘‘SEC. 298A. EMERGING ELECTION TECHNOLOGY COM13 MITTEE. 

14 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established in the 

15 Commission the Emerging Election Technology Com16 mittee (hereafter in this section referred to as the ‘Tech17 nology Committee’). 

18 ‘‘(b) DUTIES.—The Technology Committee shall as19 sist the Commission in the adoption of voluntary guide20 lines under section 298, including by providing the Com21 mission with recommendations on appropriate standards 

22 for the use of nonvoting election technology, including 

23 standards to ensure the security and promote the usability 

24 of such technology. 

25 ‘‘(c) MEMBERSHIP.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Technology Committee 

2 shall be composed of members appointed by the 

3 Commission as follows: 

4 ‘‘(A) Each member shall have expertise in 

5 the operation of nonvoting election technology. 

6 ‘‘(B) At least three of the members shall 

7 be State or local election officials. 

8 ‘‘(C) At least four of the members shall be 

9 individuals who are not employees of the Com10 mission. 

11 ‘‘(2) NUMBER.—The number of members of the 

12 Technology Committee shall be determined by the 

13 Commission. 

14 ‘‘(3) QUORUM.—A majority of the members of 

15 the Technology Committee shall constitute a 

16 quorum, except that the Technology Committee may 

17 not conduct any business prior to the appointment 

18 of all of its members. 

19 ‘‘(d) CHAIR.—The members of the Technology Com20 mittee shall select one of the members to serve as chair 

21 of the Committee. 

22 ‘‘(e) NO COMPENSATION FOR SERVICE.—Members of 

23 the Technology Committee shall not receive any compensa24 tion for their service, but shall be paid travel expenses, 

25 including per diem in lieu of subsistence, at rates authorVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:31 Aug 22, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00015 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7905.IH H7905

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1 ized for employees of agencies under subchapter I of chap2 ter 57 of title 5, United States Code, while away from 

3 their homes or regular places of business in the perform4 ance of services for the Committee. 

5 ‘‘SEC. 298B. NONVOTING ELECTION TECHNOLOGY DEFINED. 

6 ‘‘In this subtitle, the term ‘nonvoting election tech7 nology’ means technology used in the administration of 

8 elections for Federal office which is not used directly in 

9 the casting, counting, tabulating, or collecting of ballots 

10 or votes, including each of the following: 

11 ‘‘(1) Electronic pollbooks. 

12 ‘‘(2) Election result reporting systems. 

13 ‘‘(3) Electronic ballot delivery systems. 

14 ‘‘(4) Online voter registration systems. 

15 ‘‘(5) Polling place location search systems. 

16 ‘‘(6) Sample ballot portals. 

17 ‘‘(7) Such other technology as may be rec18 ommended for treatment as nonvoting election tech19 nology as the Emerging Election Technology Com20 mittee may recommend.’’. 

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

22 of such Act is amended by adding at the end of the items 

23 relating to title II the following: 

‘‘Subtitle E—Voluntary Guidelines for Use of Nonvoting Election Technology 

‘‘Sec. 298. Adoption of voluntary guidelines by Commission. 

‘‘Sec. 298A. Emerging Election Technology Committee. 

‘‘Sec. 298B. Nonvoting election technology defined.’’. 


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1 SEC. 202. STATUS REPORTS BY NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF 

2 STANDARDS AND TECHNOLOGY. 

3 Section 231 of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 

4 (52 U.S.C. 20971) is amended by adding at the end the 

5 following new subsection: 

6 ‘‘(e) STATUS REPORTS BY NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF

7 STANDARDS AND TECHNOLOGY.—Not later than 60 days 

8 after the end of each fiscal year (beginning with 2020), 

9 the Director of the National Institute of Standards and 

10 Technology shall submit to Congress a status report de11 scribing— 

12 ‘‘(1) the extent to which the Director carried 

13 out the Director’s responsibilities under this Act 

14 during the fiscal year, including the responsibilities 

15 imposed under this section and the responsibilities 

16 imposed with respect to the Technical Guidelines 

17 Development Committee under section 222, together 

18 with the Director’s best estimate of when the Direc19 tor will completely carry out any responsibility which 

20 was not carried out completely during the fiscal 

21 year; and 

22 ‘‘(2) the extent to which the Director carried 

23 out any projects requested by the Commission dur24 ing the fiscal year, together with the Director’s best 

25 estimate of when the Director will complete any such 


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1 project which the Director did not complete during 

2 the fiscal year.’’. 

3 SEC. 203. ESTABLISHMENT OF ELECTION CYBER ASSIST4 ANCE UNIT IN ELECTION ASSISTANCE COM5 MISSION. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle A of title II of the Help 

7 America Vote Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 20921 et seq.) is 

8 amended by adding at the end the following new part: 

9 ‘‘PART 4—ELECTION CYBER ASSISTANCE UNIT 

10 ‘‘SEC. 225. ELECTION CYBER ASSISTANCE UNIT. 

11 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established in the 

12 Commission the Election Cyber Assistance Unit (hereafter 

13 in this part referred to as the ‘Unit’). 

14 ‘‘(b) DUTIES.—The Unit will provide State and local 

15 election officials in various geographic regions of the 

16 United States with access to risk-management, resiliency, 

17 and technical support services provided by election admin18 istration and cybersecurity experts who will be based in 

19 such regions and who may provide such services in person, 

20 by telephone, or online.’’. 

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

22 of such Act is amended by adding at the end of the items 

23 relating to subtitle A of title II the following: 

‘‘PART 4—ELECTION CYBER ASSISTANCE UNIT

‘‘Sec. 225. Election Cyber Assistance Unit.’’. 


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1 SEC. 204. CERTIFICATION PROGRAM IN ELECTION ADMIN2 ISTRATION OR CYBERSECURITY. 

3 (a) ESTABLISHMENT OF PROGRAM.—Subtitle C of 

4 title II of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 

5 20981 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the fol6 lowing new section: 

7 ‘‘SEC. 248. CERTIFICATION PROGRAM IN ELECTION ADMIN8 ISTRATION OR CYBERSECURITY. 

9 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Commission shall es10 tablish and operate a program to provide a certification 

11 in election administration or election cybersecurity to elec12 tion officials and their employees who meet standards and 

13 criteria established by the Commission. 

14 ‘‘(b) USE OF PARTNERSHIPS.—The Commission may 

15 carry out the program under this section in partnership 

16 with qualified entities, including institutions of higher edu17 cation (as defined under section 101 of the Higher Edu18 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001)) and nonprofit and 

19 for-profit organizations with expertise in election adminis20 tration and election cybersecurity. 

21 ‘‘(c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

22 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this sec23 tion— 

24 ‘‘(1) $1,000,000 for fiscal year 2021; and 

25 ‘‘(2) such sums as may be necessary for fiscal 

26 years 2022 through 2028.’’. 


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

2 of such Act is amended by adding at the end of the items 

3 relating to subtitle C of title II the following: 

‘‘Sec. 248. Certification program in election administration or cybersecurity.’’. 

4 TITLE III—ELECTION FRAUD 

5 PREVENTION 

6 SEC. 301. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds that— 

8 (1) the right to vote is a fundamental right of 

9 citizens of the United States; 

10 (2) it is the responsibility of the State and Fed11 eral Governments to ensure that elections are con12 ducted with integrity; 

13 (3) the Committee on House Administration of 

14 the House of Representatives, which is charged with 

15 investigating election irregularities, received reports 

16 through its official Election Observer Program for 

17 the 2018 general election that individuals other than 

18 voters themselves were depositing large amounts of 

19 absentee ballots at polling places throughout Cali20 fornia, a practice colloquially known as ‘‘ballot har21 vesting’’; 

22 (4) the practice of ballot harvesting in Cali23 fornia creates significant vulnerabilities in the chain24 of-custody of ballots because individuals collecting 

25 ballots are not required to be registered voters and 


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1 are not required to identify themselves at a voter’s 

2 home, and the State does not track how many bal3 lots are harvested in an election; 

4 (5) in North Carolina, a congressional election 

5 was invalidated due to fraud associated with ballot 

6 harvesting committed by a political operative, and it 

7 is unlikely such activity would have been detected 

8 were it not for the prohibition against ballot har9 vesting in the State; and 

10 (6) ballot harvesting invites electioneering activ11 ity at home and creates the possibility of undue in12 fluence over voters by political operatives. 

13 SEC. 302. PROHIBITION ON PAYMENTS TO STATES ALLOW14 ING COLLECTION AND TRANSMISSION OF 

15 BALLOTS BY CERTAIN THIRD PARTIES. 

16 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title IX of the Help America Vote 

17 Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 21141 et seq.) is amended— 

18 (1) by redesignating section 906 as section 907; 

19 and 

20 (2) by inserting after section 905 the following 

21 new section: 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 906. PROHIBITION ON PAYMENTS TO STATES ALLOW2 ING COLLECTION AND TRANSMISSION OF 

3 BALLOTS BY CERTAIN THIRD PARTIES. 

4 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—A State (including the Common5 wealth of the Northern Mariana Islands) is not eligible 

6 to receive funds under this Act unless the State has in 

7 effect a law that prohibits an individual from the knowing 

8 collection and transmission of a ballot in an election for 

9 Federal office that was mailed to another person, other 

10 than an individual described as follows: 

11 ‘‘(1) An election official while engaged in offi12 cial duties as authorized by law. 

13 ‘‘(2) An employee of the United States Postal 

14 Service while engaged in official duties as authorized 

15 by law. 

16 ‘‘(3) Any other individual who is allowed by law 

17 to collect and transmit United States mail, while en18 gaged in official duties as authorized by law. 

19 ‘‘(4) A family member, household member, or 

20 caregiver of the person to whom the ballot was 

21 mailed. 

22 ‘‘(b) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section, 

23 with respect to a person to whom the ballot was mailed: 

24 ‘‘(1) The term ‘caregiver’ means an individual 

25 who provides medical or health care assistance to 

26 such person in a residence, nursing care institution, 


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1 hospice facility, assisted living center, assisted living 

2 facility, assisted living home, residential care institu3 tion, adult day health care facility, or adult foster 

4 care home. 

5 ‘‘(2) The term ‘family member’ means an indi6 vidual who is related to such person by blood, mar7 riage, adoption or legal guardianship. 

8 ‘‘(3) The term ‘household member’ means an 

9 individual who resides at the same residence as such 

10 person.’’. 

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

12 of such Act is amended— 

13 (1) by redesignating the item relating to section 

14 906 as relating to section 907; and 

15 (2) by inserting after the item relating to sec16 tion 905 the following: 

‘‘Sec. 906. Prohibition on payments to States allowing collection and transmission of ballots by certain third parties.’’. 

Æ 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS