I 
119TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 4913 
To amend the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 to protect individuals 
who are lawfully registered to vote in elections for Federal office from 
bad faith challenges to their registration status, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
AUGUST 5, 2025 
Ms. WILLIAMS of Georgia (for herself, Ms. ANSARI, Ms. BROWN, Mr. CARSON, 
Mrs. CHERFILUS-MCCORMICK, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Ms. CROCK-
ETT, Mr. EVANS of Pennsylvania, Mr. FIGURES, Mr. GARCI´A of Illinois, 
Mr. GREEN of Texas, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Ms. KAMLAGER-DOVE, 
Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI, Ms. LEE of Pennsylvania, Mr. LYNCH, Ms. 
MCCLELLAN, Mrs. MCIVER, Mr. MFUME, Mr. MULLIN, Ms. NORTON, 
Mrs. RAMIREZ, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. SCOTT of Virginia, Ms. SEWELL, 
Ms. SIMON, Ms. STRICKLAND, Mrs. SYKES, Mr. THANEDAR, Mr. THOMP-
SON of Mississippi, Ms. TLAIB, Mr. TONKO, and Mr. FIELDS) introduced 
the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on House Admin-
istration 
A BILL 
To amend the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 to 
protect individuals who are lawfully registered to vote 
in elections for Federal office from bad faith challenges 
to their registration status, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Countering Harass-
ment and Applying Legal Liability to Effectively Nurture 
Government Election Stability Act’’ or the ‘‘CHAL-
LENGES Act’’. 
SEC. 2. PROTECTIONS AGAINST BAD FAITH CHALLENGES 
TO VOTER REGISTRATION STATUS. 
(a) PROTECTIONS.—The National Voter Registration 
Act of 1993 (52 U.S.C. 20501 et seq.) is amended by in-
serting after section 8 the following new section: 
‘‘SEC. 8A. PROTECTIONS AGAINST BAD-FAITH CHALLENGES 
TO REGISTRATION STATUS. 
‘‘(a) PROTECTIONS
AGAINST
BAD-FAITH
CHAL-
LENGES.—No person, other than a State or local election 
official, may submit to a State or local election official a 
formal challenge to the voter registration status of an indi-
vidual who is registered to vote in elections for Federal 
office held in the State unless the person— 
‘‘(1) provides the official with clear and con-
vincing evidence generated by an inquiry into the 
specific individual’s voter registration status that of-
fers proof that the individual is not eligible to be 
registered to vote in elections for Federal office in 
the State and is not generated by a mass computer-
ized data matching process; 
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‘‘(2) presents the official with an oath or attes-
tation of such person under penalty of perjury that 
the person has personal knowledge that the indi-
vidual is not eligible to be registered to vote in elec-
tions for Federal office in the State; and 
‘‘(3) if the person is an individual, is registered 
to vote in the same registrar’s jurisdiction as the in-
dividual who is the subject of the challenge. 
‘‘(b) REQUIREMENTS
FOR ONLINE PORTALS AC-
CEPTING CHALLENGES.—A State or local election official 
who operates an online portal through which a person may 
submit a formal challenge to the voter registration status 
of an individual who is registered to vote in elections for 
Federal office held in the State— 
‘‘(1) shall reject a challenge submitted on the 
portal by a person who does not include the person’s 
name on the material the person submits for the 
challenge; and 
‘‘(2) shall include on the portal information on 
the prohibition under subsection (a).’’. 
(b) ENFORCEMENT.— 
(1) PRIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION.—Section 11(b) 
of such Act (52 U.S.C. 20510(b)) is amended by 
adding at the end the following new paragraph: 
‘‘(4) In the case of a violation of section 8A— 
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‘‘(A) the aggrieved person need not provide no-
tice to the chief election official of the State under 
paragraph (1) before bringing a civil action under 
paragraph (2); and 
‘‘(B) in addition to declaratory and injunctive 
relief, the civil action may be for compensatory dam-
ages equal to the amount incurred by the aggrieved 
person due to the violation, together with punitive 
damages in an amount not to exceed $1,000 for 
each such violation.’’. 
(2) CRIMINAL PENALTIES.—Section 12 of such 
Act (52 U.S.C. 20511) is amended— 
(A) by striking ‘‘A person’’ and inserting 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—A person’’; and 
(B) by adding at the end the following new 
subsection: 
‘‘(b) KNOWING AND NEGLIGENT FALSE CHALLENGE 
TO ELIGIBILITY TO REGISTER TO VOTE.—In addition to 
any other penalty under this Act, if— 
‘‘(1) a person submits to a State or local elec-
tion official a formal challenge to the voter registra-
tion status of an individual who is registered to vote 
in elections for Federal office held in the State 
knowing and negligently disregarding that the indi-
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vidual is eligible to be registered to vote in elections 
for Federal office in the State; or 
‘‘(2) a person provides another person with in-
formation alleging that an individual is not eligible 
to be registered to vote in elections for Federal office 
held in a State knowing that the information is false 
and with the reasonable expectation that the person 
to whom the information is provided will use the in-
formation to submit to a State or local election offi-
cial a formal challenge to the voter registration sta-
tus of the individual, 
the person shall be fined in accordance with title 18, 
United States Code, imprisoned not more than 6 months, 
or both, except that if the person is not an individual, the 
amount of the fine shall be equal to $10,000 for each vio-
lation under this subsection.’’. 
(c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 
this section shall apply with respect to a challenge to the 
voter registration status of an individual who is registered 
to vote in elections for Federal office in a State which is 
made after the date of the enactment of this Act. 
Æ 
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