[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6513 Referred in Senate (RFS)]
<DOC>
118th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 6513
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
September 10, 2024
Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Rules and
Administration
_______________________________________________________________________
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; FINDINGS.
(a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Confirmation Of
Congressional Observer Access Act of 2023'' or the ``COCOA Act of
2023''.
(b) Findings Relating to Congressional Election Observers.--
Congress finds the following:
(1) Article 1, section 5, clause 1 of the Constitution
grants Congress the authority to ``be the Judge of the
Elections, Returns and Qualifications of its own Members''.
(2) The House of Representatives serves as the final
arbiter over any contest to the seating of any putative Member-
elect.
(3) Congress has exercised this authority--and
responsibility--since our Nation's very beginning, from the
First Congress through the One Hundred Eighteenth Congress.
Over our history, election contests have remained a normal and
regular part of the biennial process for electing, recognizing,
and seating new Members. Although Congress has opted to revise
the statutory framework by which it considers election
contests, consideration of such contests has been a regular and
recurring part of Congress' constitutional prerogatives and
work. For example, across our Nation's history, more than
approximately 610 elections have been contested in the House--
an average of more than 5 per Congress. Indeed, even
discounting the Reconstruction period and its surge in election
contests, there have been 110 contested election cases
considered in the House since 1933--an average of more than 2
contests per Congress.
(4) These election contest procedures are contained in the
precedents of each House of Congress. Further, for the House of
Representatives the procedures exist under the Federal
Contested Elections Act.
(5) For decades, the House of Representatives has appointed
its staff to watch the administration of congressional
elections in the States and territories. Critically,
congressional observers serve to gather real-time information
and data for the House in anticipation of an election contest
being filed.
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--
``(i) inform the chair and ranking minority
member of the Committee on House Administration
of the House of Representatives; 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 subparagraph (A).
``(3) Right to replace observer.--If a designated
congressional election observer is properly removed under
subparagraph (A), the chair or ranking minority member of the
Committee on House Administration of the House of
Representatives, as appropriate, may send another designated
congressional election observer as a replacement for the
remaining duration of the observation of election
administration procedures.
``(4) Clarification regarding applicability of code of
official conduct.--It is the sense of Congress that, because
the Code of Official Conduct for the House of Representatives
(rule XXIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives)
requires all employees of the House to behave at all times in a
manner that reflects creditably on the House, an employee of
the House who serves as a designated congressional election
observer is subject to the Code of Official Conduct in the
employee's role as such an observer.
``(d) Designated Congressional Election Observer Described.--In
this section, a `designated congressional election observer' is a House
employee (as contemplated by the Rules of the House of Representatives)
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 successor committee, to gather information with respect to an
election, including in the event that the election is contested in the
House of Representatives 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 `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.''.
Passed the House of Representatives September 9, 2024.
Attest:
KEVIN F. MCCUMBER,
Clerk.