PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Read twice and referred to the Committee on Rules and Administration.
Congressional Research Service
Version 00 · Introduced in Senate · Nov 12, 2020
Protect Election Integrity Act of 2020
This bill requires states to establish certain election measures. It also prohibits ballot harvesting in federal elections.
Specifically, the bill requires each state, in order to receive certain election assistance funds, to
Showing the opening paragraphs of the official summary.
prohibit the knowing collection and transmission of a ballot that was mailed to another person (commonly referred to as ballot harvesting), with exceptions;
permit poll watching by at least two appointed campaign representatives per campaign;
require absentee and mail-in ballots to be counted and recorded immediately upon receipt without disclosing any results until after the closure of polling places on election day;
require continuous counting of ballots after the closure of polling places on election day;
install video surveillance of ballot drop boxes;
require each supervisor of elections to make publicly available a report outlining preparations for the upcoming general election; and
require an audit of municipal voting systems.
Finally, the bill generally prohibits ballot harvesting in federal elections, which is the process of collecting vote-by-mail ballots from voters and returning them to the polling place or election office. A violator is subject to criminal penalties—a fine, a prison term of up to five years, or both.
People & committees
Sen. Hawley, Josh [R-MO] · R–MO
Legislative record
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Read twice and referred to the Committee on Rules and Administration.
Introduced in Senate
Primary sources
Text links open the official source. We currently store references to these documents.
Source last updated: Dec 3, 2025. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
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