I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 8753 

To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to provide for the establishment 

of election integrity measures by States and to prohibit ballot harvesting 

in Federal elections. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 16, 2020 

Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania introduced the following bill; which was referred 

to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on 

House Administration, 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 provide 

for the establishment of election integrity measures by 

States and to prohibit ballot harvesting in Federal elections. 

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 ‘‘Protect Election Integ5 rity Act of 2020’’. 

6 SEC. 2. ELECTION INTEGRITY MEASURES. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.— 


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1 (1) REQUIREMENT.—Subtitle D of title II of 

2 the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 

3 20901 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the 

4 following new part: 

5 ‘‘PART 7—ELECTION INTEGRITY MEASURES 

6 ‘‘SEC. 297. ELIGIBILITY FOR PAYMENTS OF STATES LACK7 ING ELECTION INTEGRITY MEASURES. 

8 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—A State is not eligible to receive 

9 funds under this Act unless the State meets the following 

10 requirements with respect to each election held on or after 

11 January 1, 2021: 

12 ‘‘(1) COLLECTION AND TRANSMISSION OF BAL13 LOTS.—The State has in effect a law that prohibits 

14 an individual from the knowing collection and trans15 mission of a ballot that was mailed to another per16 son, other than an individual described as follows: 

17 ‘‘(A) An election official while engaged in 

18 official duties as authorized by law. 

19 ‘‘(B) An employee of the United States 

20 Postal Service while engaged in official duties 

21 as authorized by law. 

22 ‘‘(C) Any other individual who is allowed 

23 by law to collect and transmit United States 

24 mail, while engaged in official duties as author25 ized by law. 


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1 ‘‘(D) A family member, household member, 

2 or caregiver of the person to whom the ballot 

3 was mailed. 

4 ‘‘(2) OBSERVATION.—The State has in effect a 

5 law that permits the observation of polling places or 

6 counting of ballots, at any site where voting or ballot 

7 counting is occurring, by at least 2 appointed cam8 paign representatives per campaign. 

9 ‘‘(3) RECORD.—The State has in effect a law 

10 requiring that mail-in or absentee ballots be counted 

11 and recorded immediately upon receipt, with no re12 sults to be disclosed until after the closure of polling 

13 places on the date of the election. 

14 ‘‘(4) BALLOT COUNTING.—The State has in ef15 fect a law providing that after the closure of polling 

16 places on the date of the election, ballot counting be17 gins and does not stop, for any reason except immi18 nent emergency, until all ballots are counted. 

19 ‘‘(5) SURVEILLANCE.—The State has in effect 

20 a law that provides for round-the-clock video surveil21 lance monitoring of absentee ballot drop boxes, with 

22 unedited footage to be made available upon request 

23 to members of the public at no charge. 

24 ‘‘(6) REPORT.—The State has in effect a law 

25 that each supervisor of elections must post a report 


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1 on the official website of such supervisor at least 3 

2 months before a general election for Federal office 

3 which outlines preparations for the upcoming gen4 eral election. Each report under this paragraph must 

5 include, at a minimum, the following elements: 

6 ‘‘(A) The anticipated staffing levels during 

7 the early voting period, on election day, and 

8 after election day. 

9 ‘‘(B) The anticipated amount of automatic 

10 tabulating equipment at each early voting site 

11 and polling place. 

12 ‘‘(7) CERTIFICATION.—The State has in effect 

13 a law providing that following the certification of the 

14 election, the municipal entity responsible for certi15 fying the election shall conduct a manual audit or an 

16 automated, independent audit of the voting systems 

17 used in randomly selected precincts. The resulting 

18 report must be made available to the public within 

19 15 days after completion of the audit. 

20 ‘‘(b) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section: 

21 ‘‘(1) APPOINTED CAMPAIGN REPRESENTA22 TIVE.—The term ‘appointed campaign representa23 tive’ means, with respect to the official campaign of 

24 a candidate appearing on a ballot, an individual au25 thorized to observe voting procedures or the countVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:12 Nov 28, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8753.IH H8753

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1 ing of ballots by the campaign, but not the can2 didate himself or herself. A political committee 

3 formed for the specific purpose of expressly advo4 cating the passage or defeat of an issue on the ballot 

5 may also authorize appointed campaign representa6 tives. 

7 ‘‘(2) CAREGIVER.—The term ‘caregiver’ means, 

8 with respect to a person, an individual who provides 

9 medical or health care assistance to such person in 

10 a residence, nursing care institution, hospice facility, 

11 assisted living center, assisted living facility, assisted 

12 living home, residential care institution, adult day 

13 health care facility, or adult foster care home. 

14 ‘‘(3) FAMILY MEMBER.—The term ‘family 

15 member’ means, with respect to a person, an indi16 vidual who is related to such person by blood, mar17 riage, adoption, or legal guardianship. 

18 ‘‘(4) HOUSEHOLD MEMBER.—The term ‘house19 hold member’ means, with respect to a person, an 

20 individual who resides at the same residence as such 

21 person.’’. 

22 (2) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of con23 tents of such Act is amended by inserting after the 

24 item relating to section 296 the following new item: 

‘‘PART 7—ELECTION INTEGRITY MEASURES


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‘‘Sec. 297. Eligibility for payments of States lacking election integrity measures.’’. 

1 (b) PROHIBITION ON BALLOT HARVESTING IN FED2 ERAL ELECTIONS.— 

3 (1) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 29 of title 18, 

4 United States Code is amended by adding at the end 

5 the following new section: 

6 ‘‘§ 612. Prohibition on ballot harvesting in Federal 

7 elections 

8 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—It shall be unlawful for any per9 son to knowingly collect and transmit a ballot in an elec10 tion for Federal office that was mailed to another person, 

11 other than an individual described as follows: 

12 ‘‘(1) An election official while engaged in offi13 cial duties as authorized by law. 

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

15 Service while engaged in official duties as authorized 

16 by law. 

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

18 to collect and transmit United States mail, while en19 gaged in official duties as authorized by law. 

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

21 caregiver of the person to whom the ballot was 

22 mailed.’’. 

23 ‘‘(b) PENALTY.—Any person who violates subsection 

24 (a) shall be fined not more than $10,000 for each ballot 


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1 collected and transmitted in violation of such subsection, 

2 imprisoned for not more than 5 years, or both. 

3 ‘‘(c) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section: 

4 ‘‘(1) CAREGIVER.—The term ‘caregiver’ means, 

5 with respect to a person, an individual who provides 

6 medical or health care assistance to such person in 

7 a residence, nursing care institution, hospice facility, 

8 assisted living center, assisted living facility, assisted 

9 living home, residential care institution, adult day 

10 health care facility, or adult foster care home. 

11 ‘‘(2) FAMILY MEMBER.—The term ‘family 

12 member’ means, with respect to a person, an indi13 vidual who is related to such person by blood, mar14 riage, adoption, or legal guardianship. 

15 ‘‘(3) HOUSEHOLD MEMBER.—The term ‘house16 hold member’ means, with respect to a person, an 

17 individual who resides at the same residence as such 

18 person. 

19 ‘‘(d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section shall apply 

20 with respect to elections for Federal office held after Janu21 ary 1, 2021.’’. 

22 (2) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sec23 tions for chapter 29 of title 18, United States Code 


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1 is amended by adding at the end the following new 

2 item: 

‘‘612. Prohibition on ballot harvesting in Federal elections.’’. 

Æ 


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