AB 515

This bill makes it a crime for a person to do any of the following with the intent to threaten the orderly conduct of an election, to interfere with voting or registration at a polling place during polling hours, or to interfere with in-person absentee voting:

1. Engage in loud, boisterous, or otherwise disruptive conduct.

2. Engage in harassing or intimidating conduct.

3. Engage in conduct that would cause a reasonable person to suffer serious emotional distress or fear bodily injury.

Under the bill, anyone committing such a crime may be fined not more than $10,000 or imprisoned for not more than nine months or both.

This bill also creates a penalty enhancement for the crimes of stalking, disorderly conduct, and harassment if the victim was chosen because of the actor’s belief that the victim was engaged in voting at a polling place, clerk’s office, or an absentee voting site, or that the victim was an election official or other municipal employee who was engaged in duties related to voter registration, voting, or canvassing. Under the penalty enhancement provided in the bill, a stalking crime that would have been a Class I felony becomes a Class H felony, and a disorderly conduct or harassment crime that would have been a Class B misdemeanor becomes a Class A misdemeanor for a first offense or Class I felony for a second or subsequent offense.

Because this bill creates a new crime or revises a penalty for an existing crime, the Joint Review Committee on Criminal Penalties may be requested to prepare a report.