Sponsors (18)
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Creates new federal protections and programs to recruit, train, and protect people who run federal elections. The bill: authorizes grants for election worker recruitment, training, and safety; directs the Justice Department to review and expand training and investigative resources; funds a grant program to protect election workers’ personally identifiable information (PII); makes intimidation or threats against federal election workers a federal crime; clarifies that ballot processing and vote tabulation are covered activities under voter registration law; and lets state or local officials remove poll observers who are intimidating or disrupting the voting or vote‑counting process.
Defines "election worker" as an individual who is an election official, poll worker, or an election volunteer in connection with the administration of an election for a Federal office.
Defines "personally identifiable information" by adopting the meaning given to that term in section 119 of title 18, United States Code.
Amends Subtitle D of title II of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 by adding at the end a new provision regarding grants to States for election worker recruitment, training, and safety.
Makes a clerical amendment to the table of contents of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 by adding at the end the items relating to Subtitle D of title II.
Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment, the Attorney General must review training resources provided to Federal, State, local, and Tribal law enforcement and ensure the Department of Justice offers programs that include training and resources to assist State, local, and Tribal law enforcement in understanding, detecting, deterring, and investigating threats to election workers.
Primary beneficiaries are election workers (election officials, poll workers, and volunteers), who would gain stronger legal protections, new safety and recruitment resources, and programs to limit public exposure of their personally identifiable information. State and local election officials can access federal grants to help recruit and train workers, improve security practices, and remove or redact PII from public records; they also gain explicit authority to remove disruptive poll observers. Law enforcement and federal prosecutors will receive new training obligations and investigative responsibilities; the FBI will assign an agent in each field office to investigate threats to election workers. Poll observers and those who publicly monitor election activities may experience more limits on access where officials reasonably believe intimidation or disruption is likely. Voters may experience changes at polling places and in ballot processing locations (e.g., removal of observers, enhanced privacy for workers) that prioritize worker safety and process integrity. The bill may raise tradeoffs between transparency of some public records and privacy/security for election workers because it encourages redaction/limited access to PII. It may also generate legal or policy disputes about the scope of observer removal authority, definitions of “intimidating” or “disrupting” conduct, and potential free‑speech or public‑access concerns. Implementation will require states and localities to adopt procedures and systems (for PII redaction, opt-outs, observer removal policies), which the grant programs are intended to support; however, no specific appropriation amounts were provided in the text summary, so availability of federal funding will determine how quickly jurisdictions can adopt the new practices.
Inserts a new section 303A (Voter protection requirements) into Subtitle A of title III of the Help America Vote Act of 2002, after section 303.
Amends subsection (b) of 52 U.S.C. 21101 by adding a new paragraph (4) establishing a deadline for recommendations relating to the newly added section 303A.
Amends 18 U.S.C. 119(b)(2) by modifying subparagraphs (C) and (D) punctuation and adding a new subparagraph (E) that covers an election official, poll worker, or election volunteer in connection with an election for a Federal office.
Amends section 12(1) of the National Voter Registration Act (52 U.S.C. 20511) by modifying subparagraph (B) punctuation and adding a new subparagraph (D) to make intimidation related to processing/scanning ballots and tabulating, canvassing, or certifying voting results a prohibited offense.
Adds new section 612 to chapter 29 of title 18 prohibiting intimidation, threats, or coercion of election workers, defining 'election worker', establishing penalties, and directing assignment of FBI special agents to investigate threats against election workers.
Amends the table of contents for title 18 by adding chapter 29 and a listing for the new section 612.
Adds a new provision at the end of subtitle D of title II of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 establishing grants to States for election worker recruitment, training, and safety.
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Read twice and referred to the Committee on Rules and Administration.
Introduced June 18, 2025 by Amy Klobuchar · Last progress June 18, 2025
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Rules and Administration.
Introduced in Senate