HB3301 would amend the Illinois Election Code to create a new offense for harassment of election workers and others present at election sites. The bill makes it unlawful for any person to intimidate, threaten, coerce, use violence or force, or attempt to do so against an election worker while that worker is performing election-related duties, or against an individual lawfully present at a polling place or at a location where votes are canvassed.
The bill defines “election worker” broadly to include election officials, poll workers, and election volunteers involved in administering local, state, or federal elections. It also defines “election-related duties” to cover a wide range of election administration tasks, including handling voter applications and ballots, registering voters, operating polling places and early voting sites, assisting voters, processing and tallying ballots, and certifying election results. A first violation would be a Class A misdemeanor, while a second or subsequent violation within three years of a prior conviction would be a Class 4 felony.
Impact
HB3301 would add a new Section 29-21 to the Election Code and create a specific criminal penalty for threats, coercion, violence, or attempted intimidation directed at election workers and certain other lawful participants in the voting process. It would expand legal protections for election administration personnel and for people present at polling places and canvassing locations, while giving prosecutors a new election-specific offense to charge in cases of interference with election operations.
Sentiment
Based on the bill text and the absence of recorded committee debate or votes in the provided materials, the measure appears to be framed as a protective, pro-election-administration bill with an emphasis on safety and orderly election conduct. The caption and statutory language suggest a straightforward public-safety and election-integrity purpose, and there is no available evidence here of formal opposition, amendments, or divided voting.
Contention
No committee transcript or vote history was provided, so there are no documented points of contention in the supplied record. Potential areas of debate, based on the text alone, could include the breadth of the definitions for election workers and election-related duties, the scope of conduct covered by terms like “intimidate,” “threaten,” and “coerce,” and whether the criminal penalties are proportionate. Any such concerns are inferential rather than reflected in the available discussion.