Protecting Election Administration from Interference Act of 2025
The Protecting Election Administration from Interference Act of 2025 broadens federal protections for election records, papers, and equipment (including electronic records and equipment) and tightens enforcement around their preservation. It expands preservation duties to cover electronic records and requires those records to be kept under the direct administrative supervision of an election officer, while affirming that the paper record of a voter’s cast ballot remains the official record for purposes of federal law. The bill also allows reuse of election equipment within 22 months of a federal election as long as all related electronic records from that election are preserved, and it requires federal guidance on retention practices within a year. In addition, the bill creates a new federal civil enforcement option to compel compliance with preservation requirements, accelerates court handling of such cases, and extends criminal penalties to intimidation targeting steps like processing, tabulation, canvassing, or certifying election results. These provisions collectively aim to strengthen integrity, traceability, and accountability of election records and equipment.
Key Points
- 1Expands preservation requirements to include electronic records, papers, and election equipment, with direct administrative supervision by an election officer, and designates the paper ballot as the official record for voting purposes.
- 2Allows reuse of election equipment within 22 months of a federal election if all electronic records, files, and data related to that election are retained and preserved.
- 3Requires the Director of DHS, within one year of enactment, to issue guidance (in consultation with the Election Assistance Commission and the Attorney General) on how to comply with preservation requirements, including best practices and observation protocols for oversight by the Attorney General and party representatives.
- 4Adds new penalties for reckless disregard of preservation obligations that result in theft, destruction, concealment, mutilation, or alteration of records or equipment.
- 5Creates a new judicial enforcement mechanism (Sec. 306) that allows the Attorney General, a representative of the Attorney General, or a federal election candidate to sue to compel compliance with preservation requirements, with a duty for courts to expedite such actions.
- 6Extends the National Voter Registration Act penalties to cover intimidation related to processing, scanning ballots, tabulating, canvassing, or certifying voting results.