In the Senate of the United States, 

September 24, 2024. 

Resolved, That the bill from the House of Representatives (H.R. 6513) entitled ‘‘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.’’, do pass with the following 

AMENDMENT: 

Strike all after the enacting clause and insert the 

following: 

1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Confirmation Of Con3 gressional Observer Access Act of 2024’’ or the ‘‘COCOA Act 

4 of 2024’’. 

5 SEC. 2. ACCESS FOR CONGRESSIONAL ELECTION OBSERV6 ERS. 

7 (a) ACCESS REQUIRED.—Title III of the Help Amer8 ica Vote Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 21081 et seq.) is amended— 
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1 (1) by redesignating section 304 and 305 as sec2 tions 305 and 306; and 

3 (2) by inserting after section 303 the following 

4 new section: 

5 ‘‘SEC. 304. ACCESS FOR CONGRESSIONAL ELECTION OB6 SERVERS. 

7 ‘‘(a) FINDING OF CONSTITUTIONAL AUTHORITY.—Con8 gress finds that, regardless of legislative action, it has the 

9 authority to send congressional election observers to observe 

10 polling locations, any location where processing, scanning, 

11 tabulating, canvassing, recounting, auditing, or certifying 

12 voting results is occurring, or any other part of the process 

13 associated with elections for Federal office under the au14 thorities granted under article 1, section 5, clause 1 and 

15 article 1, section 4, clause 1 of the Constitution of the 

16 United States. Procedures described herein do not establish 

17 any new authorities or procedures with respect to Congress’ 

18 constitutional authority to observe congressional elections 

19 but are provided simply to permit a convenient statutory 

20 reference for existing congressional authority and activity. 

21 ‘‘(b) REQUIRING STATES TO PROVIDE ACCESS FOR

22 OBSERVERS.— 

23 ‘‘(1) REQUIREMENT.—A State shall provide each 

24 individual who is acting as a designated congres25 sional election observer for an election for Federal of-
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1 fice with full access to clearly observe all elements of 

2 election administration procedures, including, but not 

3 limited to, access to any area in which a ballot is 

4 cast, processed, scanned, tabulated, canvassed, re5 counted, audited, or certified, including during pre6 and post-election procedures. 

7 ‘‘(2) RESTRICTIONS ON ACTIVITIES OF OBSERV8 ERS.—No designated congressional election observer 

9 may handle a ballot or election equipment (whether 

10 voting or nonvoting or whether tabulating or nontab11 ulating), advocate for any position or candidate, take 

12 any action to reduce ballot secrecy or voter privacy, 

13 take any action to interfere with the ability of a voter 

14 to cast a ballot or an election administrator to carry 

15 the administrator’s duties, or otherwise interfere with 

16 the election administration process. 

17 ‘‘(3) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this 

18 section shall prohibit a designated congressional elec19 tion observer from asking questions of an election ad20 ministrator, election official, or election worker, or 

21 any other State or local official. 

22 ‘‘(c) CONDUCT OF OBSERVERS.— 

23 ‘‘(1) REMOVAL.— 

24 ‘‘(A) AUTHORIZATION REMOVAL BY ELEC25 TION OFFICIAL.—If a State or local election offi-
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1 cial has a reasonable basis to believe that a des2 ignated congressional election observer has en3 gaged in or imminently will engage in intimida4 tion or deceptive practices prohibited by Federal 

5 law, or in the disruption of voting, processing, 

6 scanning, tabulating, canvassing, or recounting 

7 of ballots, or the certification of results, a State 

8 or local election official may remove that ob9 server from the area involved. 

10 ‘‘(B) NOTICE TO COMMITTEE.—If a des11 ignated congressional election observer is re12 moved from an area under subparagraph (A), 

13 the election official shall, within 24 hours of the 

14 observer’s removal— 

15 ‘‘(i) inform the chair and ranking mi16 nority member of the Committee on House 

17 Administration of the House of Representa18 tives or the Committee on Rules and Ad19 ministration of the Senate, as applicable; 

20 and 

21 ‘‘(ii) provide written notice detailing 

22 the reason or reasons the designated con23 gressional election observer was removed. 

24 ‘‘(2) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—For purposes of 

25 this subsection, the mere presence of a designated con-
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1 gressional election observer during an observation of 

2 election administration procedures, without any addi3 tional indicia supporting a reasonable basis for re4 moval, is not a sufficient reason for removal under 

5 paragraph (1)(A). 

6 ‘‘(3) RIGHT TO REPLACE OBSERVER.—If a des7 ignated congressional election observer is properly re8 moved under paragraph (1)(A), the chair or ranking 

9 minority member of the Committee on House Admin10 istration of the House of Representatives or the Com11 mittee on Rules and Administration of the Senate, as 

12 appropriate, may send another designated congres13 sional election observer as a replacement for the re14 maining duration of the observation of election ad15 ministration procedures. 

16 ‘‘(d) DESIGNATED CONGRESSIONAL ELECTION OB17 SERVER DESCRIBED.—In this section, a ‘designated con18 gressional election observer’ is a House or Senate employee 

19 who is designated in writing by the chair or ranking minor20 ity member of the Committee on House Administration of 

21 the House of Representatives or the Committee on Rules and 

22 Administration of the Senate, or a successor committee, to 

23 gather information with respect to an election, including 

24 in the event that the election is contested in the House of 

25 Representatives or the Senate and for other purposes per-
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1 mitted by article 1, section 5, clause 1 and article 1, section 

2 4, clause 1 of the Constitution of the United States. 

3 ‘‘(e) STATE DEFINED.—In this section, the term ‘State’ 

4 means each of the 50 States, the District of Columbia, the 

5 Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Is6 lands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of 

7 the Northern Mariana Islands.’’. 

8 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT RELATING TO EN9 FORCEMENT.—Section 401 of such Act (52 U.S.C. 21111) 

10 is amended by striking ‘‘and 303’’ and inserting ‘‘303, and 

11 304’’. 

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

13 such Act is amended— 

14 (1) by redesignating the items relating to sec15 tions 304 and 305 as relating to sections 305 and 

16 306; and 

17 (2) by inserting after the item relating to section 

18 303 the following: 

‘‘Sec. 304. Confirming access for congressional election observers.’’. 

Attest: 

Secretary. 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H.R. 6513 

AMENDMENT