[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6882 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 6882

 To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to prohibit payments under 
   such Act to States which permit ballot harvesting, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 15, 2020

 Mr. Rodney Davis of Illinois (for himself, Mr. McCarthy, Mr. Scalise, 
  Mr. Nunes, Mr. Calvert, Mr. McClintock, Mr. LaMalfa, Mr. Cook, Mr. 
 Walker, and Mr. Loudermilk) introduced the following bill; which was 
           referred to the Committee on House Administration

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to prohibit payments under 
   such Act to States which permit ballot harvesting, and for other 
                               purposes.

    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 ``Election Fraud Prevention Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) the right to vote is a fundamental right of citizens of 
        the United States;
            (2) it is the responsibility of the State and Federal 
        Governments to ensure that elections are conducted with 
        integrity;
            (3) the Committee on House Administration of the House of 
        Representatives, which is charged with investigating election 
        irregularities, received reports through its official Election 
        Observer Program for the 2018 general election that individuals 
        other than voters themselves were depositing large amounts of 
        absentee ballots at polling places throughout California, a 
        practice colloquially known as ``ballot harvesting'';
            (4) the practice of ballot harvesting in California creates 
        significant vulnerabilities in the chain-of-custody of ballots 
        because individuals collecting ballots are not required to be 
        registered voters and are not required to identify themselves 
        at a voter's home, and the State does not track how many 
        ballots are harvested in an election;
            (5) in North Carolina, a congressional election was 
        invalidated due to fraud associated with ballot harvesting 
        committed by a political operative, and it is unlikely such 
        activity would have been detected were it not for the 
        prohibition against ballot harvesting in the State; and
            (6) ballot harvesting invites electioneering activity at 
        home and creates the possibility of undue influence over voters 
        by political operatives.

SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON PAYMENTS TO STATES ALLOWING COLLECTION AND 
              TRANSMISSION OF BALLOTS BY CERTAIN THIRD PARTIES.

    (a) In General.--Subtitle D of title II of the Help America Vote 
Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 21001 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 
the following new part:

  ``PART 7--PROHIBITION ON PAYMENTS TO STATES ALLOWING COLLECTION AND 
            TRANSMISSION OF BALLOTS BY CERTAIN THIRD PARTIES

``SEC. 297. ELIGIBILITY FOR PAYMENTS OF STATES ALLOWING COLLECTION AND 
              TRANSMISSION OF BALLOTS BY CERTAIN THIRD PARTIES.

    ``(a) In General.--A State is not eligible to receive funds under 
this Act unless the State has in effect a law that prohibits an 
individual from the knowing collection and transmission of a ballot in 
an election for Federal office that was mailed to another person, other 
than an individual described as follows:
            ``(1) An election official while engaged in official duties 
        as authorized by law.
            ``(2) An employee of the United States Postal Service while 
        engaged in official duties as authorized by law.
            ``(3) Any other individual who is allowed by law to collect 
        and transmit United States mail, while engaged in official 
        duties as authorized by law.
            ``(4) A family member, household member, or caregiver of 
        the person to whom the ballot was mailed.
    ``(b) Definitions.--For purposes of this section, with respect to a 
person to whom the ballot was mailed:
            ``(1) The term `caregiver' means an individual who provides 
        medical or health care assistance to such person in a 
        residence, nursing care institution, hospice facility, assisted 
        living center, assisted living facility, assisted living home, 
        residential care institution, adult day health care facility, 
        or adult foster care home.
            ``(2) The term `family member' means an individual who is 
        related to such person by blood, marriage, adoption or legal 
        guardianship.
            ``(3) The term `household member' means an individual who 
        resides at the same residence as such person.''.
    (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of contents of such Act is 
amended by inserting after the item relating to section 296 the 
following new item:

  ``Part 7--Prohibition on Payments to States Allowing Collection and 
            Transmission of Ballots by Certain Third Parties

``Sec. 297. Eligibility for payments of States allowing collection and 
                            transmission of ballots by certain third 
                            parties.''.
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