Election Worker Protection Act of 2023

Election Worker Protection Act of 2023

This bill establishes certain protections for election workers.

Specifically, the bill makes it a crime to intimidate, threaten, coerce, or harass an election worker with the intent to interfere with the official duties of, or retaliate against, the worker.

The bill extends (1) the prohibition on certain types of intimidation in federal elections to also prohibit intimidation for processing ballots or tabulating, canvassing, or certifying votes; and (2) the prohibition on public disclosure of restricted personal information to also prohibit the disclosure of information about election officials, poll workers, or election volunteers in connection with a federal election.

The bill also authorizes election officials to remove poll observers who are interfering with or attempting to disrupt the administration of an election.

Additionally, the bill directs the Election Assistance Commission to award grants to states (or local governments under specified circumstances) for (1) recruiting and training individuals to serve as poll workers and election volunteers on dates of elections for public office, and (2) physical security services and social media threat monitoring for election workers.

The bill directs the Department of Justice to (1) provide training to law enforcement and federal attorneys on addressing threats to election workers, and (2) establish a grant program to support programs to prevent the disclosure of personally identifiable information of election workers.

Written by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. All summary versions on Congress.gov