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[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6513 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]

        H.R.6513

                     One Hundred Eighteenth Congress

                                 of the

                        United States of America

                          AT THE SECOND SESSION

         Begun and held at the City of Washington on Wednesday,
         the third day of January, two thousand and twenty-four

                                 An Act

 
 To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to confirm the requirement 
that States allow access to designated congressional election observers 
   to observe the election administration procedures in congressional 
                               elections.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
    This Act may be cited as the ``Confirmation Of Congressional 
Observer Access Act of 2024'' or the ``COCOA Act of 2024''.
SEC. 2. ACCESS FOR CONGRESSIONAL ELECTION OBSERVERS.
    (a) Access Required.--Title III of the Help America Vote Act of 
2002 (52 U.S.C. 21081 et seq.) is amended--
        (1) by redesignating section 304 and 305 as sections 305 and 
    306; and
        (2) by inserting after section 303 the following new section:
    ``SEC. 304. ACCESS FOR CONGRESSIONAL ELECTION OBSERVERS.
    ``(a) Finding of Constitutional Authority.--Congress finds that, 
regardless of legislative action, it has the authority to send 
congressional election observers to observe polling locations, any 
location where processing, scanning, tabulating, canvassing, 
recounting, auditing, or certifying voting results is occurring, or any 
other part of the process associated with elections for Federal office 
under the authorities granted under article 1, section 5, clause 1 and 
article 1, section 4, clause 1 of the Constitution of the United 
States. Procedures described herein do not establish any new 
authorities or procedures with respect to Congress' constitutional 
authority to observe congressional elections but are provided simply to 
permit a convenient statutory reference for existing congressional 
authority and activity.
    ``(b) Requiring States To Provide Access for Observers.--
        ``(1) Requirement.--A State shall provide each individual who 
    is acting as a designated congressional election observer for an 
    election for Federal office with full access to clearly observe all 
    elements of election administration procedures, including, but not 
    limited to, access to any area in which a ballot is cast, 
    processed, scanned, tabulated, canvassed, recounted, audited, or 
    certified, including during pre- and post-election procedures.
        ``(2) Restrictions on activities of observers.--No designated 
    congressional election observer may handle a ballot or election 
    equipment (whether voting or nonvoting or whether tabulating or 
    nontabulating), advocate for any position or candidate, take any 
    action to reduce ballot secrecy or voter privacy, take any action 
    to interfere with the ability of a voter to cast a ballot or an 
    election administrator to carry the administrator's duties, or 
    otherwise interfere with the election administration process.
        ``(3) Rule of construction.--Nothing in this section shall 
    prohibit a designated congressional election observer from asking 
    questions of an election administrator, election official, or 
    election worker, or any other State or local official.
    ``(c) Conduct of Observers.--
        ``(1) Removal.--
            ``(A) Authorization removal by election official.--If a 
        State or local election official has a reasonable basis to 
        believe that a designated congressional election observer has 
        engaged in or imminently will engage in intimidation or 
        deceptive practices prohibited by Federal law, or in the 
        disruption of voting, processing, scanning, tabulating, 
        canvassing, or recounting of ballots, or the certification of 
        results, a State or local election official may remove that 
        observer from the area involved.
            ``(B) Notice to committee.--If a designated congressional 
        election observer is removed from an area under subparagraph 
        (A), the election official shall, within 24 hours of the 
        observer's removal--
                ``(i) inform the chair and ranking minority member of 
            the Committee on House Administration of the House of 
            Representatives or the Committee on Rules and 
            Administration of the Senate, as applicable; and
                ``(ii) provide written notice detailing the reason or 
            reasons the designated congressional election observer was 
            removed.
        ``(2) Rule of construction.--For purposes of this subsection, 
    the mere presence of a designated congressional election observer 
    during an observation of election administration procedures, 
    without any additional indicia supporting a reasonable basis for 
    removal, is not a sufficient reason for removal under paragraph 
    (1)(A).
        ``(3) Right to replace observer.--If a designated congressional 
    election observer is properly removed under paragraph (1)(A), the 
    chair or ranking minority member of the Committee on House 
    Administration of the House of Representatives or the Committee on 
    Rules and Administration of the Senate, as appropriate, may send 
    another designated congressional election observer as a replacement 
    for the remaining duration of the observation of election 
    administration procedures.
    ``(d) Designated Congressional Election Observer Described.--In 
this section, a `designated congressional election observer' is a House 
or Senate employee who is designated in writing by the chair or ranking 
minority member of the Committee on House Administration of the House 
of Representatives or the Committee on Rules and Administration of the 
Senate, or a successor committee, to gather information with respect to 
an election, including in the event that the election is contested in 
the House of Representatives or the Senate and for other purposes 
permitted by article 1, section 5, clause 1 and article 1, section 4, 
clause 1 of the Constitution of the United States.
    ``(e) State Defined.--In this section, the term `State' means each 
of the 50 States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto 
Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the 
Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.''.
    (b) Conforming Amendment Relating to Enforcement.--Section 401 of 
such Act (52 U.S.C. 21111) is amended by striking ``and 303'' and 
inserting ``303, and 304''.
    (c) Clerical Amendment.--The table of contents of such Act is 
amended--
        (1) by redesignating the items relating to sections 304 and 305 
    as relating to sections 305 and 306; and
        (2) by inserting after the item relating to section 303 the 
    following:
``Sec. 304. Confirming access for congressional election observers.''.

                               Speaker of the House of Representatives.

                            Vice President of the United States and    
                                               President of the Senate.
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