II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2928 

To amend section 245 of title 18, United States Code, to expand protections 

for election workers, polling places, and other election infrastructure 

against threats and violence. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

OCTOBER 4, 2021 

Mr. OSSOFF introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To amend section 245 of title 18, United States Code, to 

expand protections for election workers, polling places, 

and other election infrastructure against threats and violence. 

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 and 

5 Polling Place Protection Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FEDERALLY PROTECTED ACTIVITIES. 

7 Section 245 of title 18, United States Code, is 

8 amended— 


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1 (1) in subsection (b)— 

2 (A) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), 

3 by striking ‘‘willfully’’ and inserting ‘‘, or vio4 lence, or threat of harm to any person or prop5 erty, intentionally’’; 

6 (B) in paragraph (1)(A), by inserting ‘‘, or 

7 any agent, contractor, or vendor of a legally au8 thorized election official assisting in the admin9 istration of any primary, special, or general 

10 election’’ before the semicolon at the end; and 

11 (C) in the undesignated matter following 

12 paragraph (5), by striking ‘‘of this section’’ 

13 each place it appears and inserting ‘‘of this sub14 section’’; 

15 (2) by redesignating subsections (c) and (d) as 

16 subsections (d) and (e), respectively; and 

17 (3) by inserting after subsection (b) the fol18 lowing: 

19 ‘‘(c)(1) Whoever, whether or not acting under color 

20 of law, intentionally physically damages or threatens to 

21 physically damage any physical property being used as a 

22 polling place or tabulation center or other election infra23 structure shall be fined under this title, or imprisoned not 

24 more than 1 year, or both; and if bodily injury results 

25 from the acts committed in violation of this subsection or 


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1 if such acts include the use, attempted use, or threatened 

2 use of a dangerous weapon, explosives, or fire shall be 

3 fined under this title, or imprisoned not more than 10 

4 years, or both; and if death results from the acts com5 mitted in violation of this subsection or if such acts include 

6 kidnapping or an attempt to kidnap, aggravated sexual 

7 abuse or an attempt to commit aggravated sexual abuse, 

8 or an attempt to kill, shall be fined under this title or 

9 imprisoned for any term of years or for life, or both. 

10 ‘‘(2) For purposes of this subsection, de minimus 

11 damage or threats of de minimus damage to physical prop12 erty, such as graffiti, shall not be considered a violation 

13 of paragraph (1). 

14 ‘‘(3) In this subsection, the term ‘election infrastruc15 ture’ means any office of an election official, staff, worker, 

16 or volunteer or any physical, mechanical, or electrical de17 vice, structure, or tangible item used in the process of cre18 ating, distributing, voting, returning, counting, tabulating, 

19 auditing, storing, or other handling of voter registration 

20 or ballot information.’’. 

Æ 


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