[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6513 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]
H.R.6513
One Hundred Eighteenth Congress
of the
United States of America
AT THE SECOND SESSION
Begun and held at the City of Washington on Wednesday,
the third day of January, two thousand and twenty-four
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.
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 ``Confirmation Of Congressional
Observer Access Act of 2024'' or the ``COCOA Act of 2024''.
SEC. 2. ACCESS FOR CONGRESSIONAL ELECTION OBSERVERS.
(a) Access Required.--Title III of the Help America Vote Act of
2002 (52 U.S.C. 21081 et seq.) is amended--
(1) by redesignating section 304 and 305 as sections 305 and
306; and
(2) by inserting after section 303 the following new section:
``SEC. 304. ACCESS FOR CONGRESSIONAL ELECTION OBSERVERS.
``(a) Finding of Constitutional Authority.--Congress finds that,
regardless of legislative action, it has the authority to send
congressional election observers to observe polling locations, any
location where processing, scanning, tabulating, canvassing,
recounting, auditing, or certifying voting results is occurring, or any
other part of the process associated with elections for Federal office
under the authorities granted under article 1, section 5, clause 1 and
article 1, section 4, clause 1 of the Constitution of the United
States. Procedures described herein do not establish any new
authorities or procedures with respect to Congress' constitutional
authority to observe congressional elections but are provided simply to
permit a convenient statutory reference for existing congressional
authority and activity.
``(b) Requiring States To Provide Access for Observers.--
``(1) Requirement.--A State shall provide each individual who
is acting as a designated congressional election observer for an
election for Federal office with full access to clearly observe all
elements of election administration procedures, including, but not
limited to, access to any area in which a ballot is cast,
processed, scanned, tabulated, canvassed, recounted, audited, or
certified, including during pre- and post-election procedures.
``(2) Restrictions on activities of observers.--No designated
congressional election observer may handle a ballot or election
equipment (whether voting or nonvoting or whether tabulating or
nontabulating), advocate for any position or candidate, take any
action to reduce ballot secrecy or voter privacy, take any action
to interfere with the ability of a voter to cast a ballot or an
election administrator to carry the administrator's duties, or
otherwise interfere with the election administration process.
``(3) Rule of construction.--Nothing in this section shall
prohibit a designated congressional election observer from asking
questions of an election administrator, election official, or
election worker, or any other State or local official.
``(c) Conduct of Observers.--
``(1) Removal.--
``(A) Authorization removal by election official.--If a
State or local election official has a reasonable basis to
believe that a designated congressional election observer has
engaged in or imminently will engage in intimidation or
deceptive practices prohibited by Federal law, or in the
disruption of voting, processing, scanning, tabulating,
canvassing, or recounting of ballots, or the certification of
results, a State or local election official may remove that
observer from the area involved.
``(B) Notice to committee.--If a designated congressional
election observer is removed from an area under subparagraph
(A), the election official shall, within 24 hours of the
observer's removal--
``(i) inform the chair and ranking minority member of
the Committee on House Administration of the House of
Representatives or the Committee on Rules and
Administration of the Senate, as applicable; and
``(ii) provide written notice detailing the reason or
reasons the designated congressional election observer was
removed.
``(2) Rule of construction.--For purposes of this subsection,
the mere presence of a designated congressional election observer
during an observation of election administration procedures,
without any additional indicia supporting a reasonable basis for
removal, is not a sufficient reason for removal under paragraph
(1)(A).
``(3) Right to replace observer.--If a designated congressional
election observer is properly removed under paragraph (1)(A), the
chair or ranking minority member of the Committee on House
Administration of the House of Representatives or the Committee on
Rules and Administration of the Senate, as appropriate, may send
another designated congressional election observer as a replacement
for the remaining duration of the observation of election
administration procedures.
``(d) Designated Congressional Election Observer Described.--In
this section, a `designated congressional election observer' is a House
or Senate employee who is designated in writing by the chair or ranking
minority member of the Committee on House Administration of the House
of Representatives or the Committee on Rules and Administration of the
Senate, or a successor committee, to gather information with respect to
an election, including in the event that the election is contested in
the House of Representatives or the Senate and for other purposes
permitted by article 1, section 5, clause 1 and article 1, section 4,
clause 1 of the Constitution of the United States.
``(e) State Defined.--In this section, the term `State' means each
of the 50 States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto
Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the
Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.''.
(b) Conforming Amendment Relating to Enforcement.--Section 401 of
such Act (52 U.S.C. 21111) is amended by striking ``and 303'' and
inserting ``303, and 304''.
(c) Clerical Amendment.--The table of contents of such Act is
amended--
(1) by redesignating the items relating to sections 304 and 305
as relating to sections 305 and 306; and
(2) by inserting after the item relating to section 303 the
following:
``Sec. 304. Confirming access for congressional election observers.''.
Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Vice President of the United States and
President of the Senate.