§10308 — Title 52 Voting and Elections | U.S. Code

Summary

It makes it a crime to take away or try to take away rights listed in sections 10301, 10302, 10303, 10304, 10306, or 10307(a) (these are voting-related rights). The same crime applies to destroying or changing a cast paper ballot or changing official voting records within one year after an election where an observer was assigned. Conspiring or interfering with those rights is also a crime. The maximum penalty is a $5,000 fine, up to five years in prison, or both. If someone has done or is likely to do these things, the Attorney General can go to court right away for orders to stop it, including orders that require states or election officials to let covered people vote and to count their votes. If an election observer learns within 48 hours after polls close that registered, eligible people were not allowed to vote and the observer thinks the claim is believable, the observer must tell the Attorney General. The Attorney General can then ask a federal district court immediately to have those ballots marked, cast, and counted before the election results are final. Federal district courts must hear these cases at once, even if other legal steps were not tried first.

Title 52, §10308

Voting and Elections — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Whoever shall deprive or attempt to deprive any person of any right secured by section 10301, 10302, 10303, 10304, or 10306 of this title or shall violate section 10307(a) of this title, shall be fined not more than $5,000, or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.

(b)Whoever, within a year following an election in a political subdivision in which an observer has been assigned (1) destroys, defaces, mutilates, or otherwise alters the marking of a paper ballot which has been cast in such election, or (2) alters any official record of voting in such election tabulated from a voting machine or otherwise, shall be fined not more than $5,000, or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.

(c)Whoever conspires to violate the provisions of subsection (a) or (b) of this section, or interferes with any right secured by section 10301, 10302, 10303, 10304, 10306, or 10307(a) of this title shall be fined not more than $5,000, or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.

(d)Whenever any person has engaged or there are reasonable grounds to believe that any person is about to engage in any act or practice prohibited by section 10301, 10302, 10303, 10304, 10306, or 10307 of this title, section 1973e of title 42,11 See References in Text note below. or subsection (b) of this section, the Attorney General may institute for the United States, or in the name of the United States, an action for preventive relief, including an application for a temporary or permanent injunction, restraining order, or other order, and including an order directed to the State and State or local election officials to require them (1) to permit persons listed under chapters 103 to 107 of this title to vote and (2) to count such votes.

(e)Whenever in any political subdivision in which there are observers appointed pursuant to chapters 103 to 107 of this title any persons allege to such an observer within forty-eight hours after the closing of the polls that notwithstanding (1) their listing under chapters 103 to 107 of this title or registration by an appropriate election official and (2) their eligibility to vote, they have not been permitted to vote in such election, the observer shall forthwith notify the Attorney General if such allegations in his opinion appear to be well founded. Upon receipt of such notification, the Attorney General may forthwith file with the district court an application for an order providing for the marking, casting, and counting of the ballots of such persons and requiring the inclusion of their votes in the total vote before the results of such election shall be deemed final and any force or effect given thereto. The district court shall hear and determine such matters immediately after the filing of such application. The remedy provided in this subsection shall not preclude any remedy available under State or Federal law.

(f)The district courts of the United States shall have jurisdiction of proceedings instituted pursuant to this section and shall exercise the same without regard to whether a person asserting rights under the provisions of chapters 103 to 107 of this title shall have exhausted any administrative or other remedies that may be provided by law.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

Section 1973e of title 42, referred to in subsec. (d), was repealed by Pub. L. 109–246, § 3(c), July 27, 2006, 120 Stat. 580. Codification Section was formerly classified to section 1973j of Title 42, The Public Health and Welfare, prior to editorial reclassification and renumbering as this section. Some section numbers referenced in amendment notes below reflect the classification of such sections prior to their editorial reclassification to this title.

Amendments

2006—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 109–246, § 3(e)(2), struck out “1973e,” after “1973c,”. Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 109–246, § 3(d)(3), substituted “an observer has been assigned” for “an examiner has been appointed”. Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 109–246, § 3(e)(2), struck out “1973e,” after “1973c,”. Subsec. (e). Pub. L. 109–246, § 3(d)(4), substituted “observers” for “examiners” and substituted “observer” for “examiner” in two places. 1968—Subsecs. (a), (c). Pub. L. 90–284 struck out reference to violation of section 1973i(b) of this title.

§10308 Civil and Criminal Sanctions