Protecting Election Administration from Interference Act of 2023
Latest action. Read twice and referred to the Committee on Rules and Administration.
Protecting Election Administration from Interference Act of 2023
This bill revises preservation and retention requirements for federal election records. It also revises criminal penalties related to election records and the voting process.
Under current law, election officials must, for a period of 22 months from the federal election, retain and preserve all election-related records and papers. This bill extends the requirement to electronic records and electronic equipment.
Next, the bill directs the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency to issue minimum standards and best practices for retaining and preserving records (including electronic records), papers, and electronic equipment, including protocols for observing their preservation, security, and transfer by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and a representative of each political party.
In addition, the bill revises the federal criminal offense related to election records or papers to include reckless disregard of election record requirements resulting in the theft, destruction, concealment, mutilation, or alteration of a record, paper, or electronic equipment.
Further, the bill allows DOJ to demand electronic records and electronic equipment be made available for inspection and generally prohibits DOJ from disclosing this information.
The bill allows DOJ and candidates for federal office to bring an action in a district court to compel compliance with election record requirements.
Finally, the bill extends criminal penalties related to voting interference to include intimidating, threatening, or coercing (or attempting to do so) an individual for processing or scanning ballots, tabulating, canvassing, or certifying voting results.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in Senate" stage on May 9, 2023. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on May 9, 2023: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Rules and Administration.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the Senate
- Passage by the House
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 118th Congress (2023-24), 274 of the 16,565 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 1.7 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) introduced it on May 9, 2023, and 9 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They are 8 Democrats, 1 independent.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on May 9, 2023, 1267 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 1267 days ago, on May 9, 2023.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 118th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2025 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- SenateIn committee, no floor vote yet
- HouseAwaits Senate passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers