Moulton Introduces Legislation to Protect Voting Rights from Federal Interference

SALEM, MA - Congressman Seth Moulton (MA-06) introduced the Protecting American Voters' Rights Act, a bill that would permit Americans to sue in federal court for constitutional violations of their voting rights.

The legislation addresses a dangerous gap in federal law that grants federal officials near-total immunity when they violate constitutional rights-including the rights to vote and participate freely in democracy enshrined by the 14th and 15th Amendments. The bill comes in response to repeated threats by the Trump Administration to deploy armed agents to polling places.

"Right now, if a federal official violates someone's Fourteenth or Fifteenth Amendment rights, victims have almost no legal recourse," said Congressman Moulton. "This bill fixes that. The Trump Administration is not above the law-and if its officers break the law, they must be held accountable in court."

What the Protecting American Voters' Rights Act does:

Under current federal law, victims of constitutional violations can only sue state and local officials under 42 U.S.C. § 1983-the statute that underpins countless civil rights cases, including those involving police brutality. But § 1983 does not apply to federal officers. Instead, victims must rely on a judge-made doctrine known as Bivens. In recent years, the Supreme Court has nearly eliminated Bivens remedies, leaving victims with virtually no path to justice when federal officers violate their rights.

The Protecting American Voters' Rights Act directly addresses this gap by amending 42 U.S.C. § 1983 to explicitly apply to individuals acting under "any federal election or election enforcement authority."

This simple, targeted amendment ensures that the Trump Administration and any armed "election enforcement officers" can be held liable in the same way as any state or local law enforcement officer when they violate a person's constitutional rights.

The bill focuses solely on voting rights and election law-related offenses, ensuring it does not duplicate prior legislation introduced to broadly extend Bivens across all federal agencies, or Congressman Moulton's NOEM Act, which would apply in the context of immigration offenses. This new bill addresses the area where abuses could loom large in the coming months and where victims cannot rely on the Supreme Court to provide remedies.

Full text of the bill can be found here.

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