The Preventing Foreign Interference in American Elections Act expands existing restrictions on foreign contributions to U.S. elections by prohibiting foreign nationals from donating money to voter registration drives, ballot collection efforts, voter identification activities, get-out-the-vote campaigns, and election administration at any level of government. The bill also closes loopholes by treating indirect contributions through intermediaries the same as direct foreign donations and extends these restrictions to state and local ballot initiatives and referendums. Additionally, the legislation requires political committees, parties, and those making independent expenditures to certify under penalty of perjury that they have complied with foreign contribution restrictions, and it protects donor privacy by restricting federal agencies from collecting or publicly disclosing the identities of donors to tax-exempt organizations except in narrow circumstances already permitted by law. The bill includes enforcement mechanisms allowing investigations to be limited in scope and provides penalties of up to five years in prison and $250,000 in fines for federal employees who willfully disclose protected donor information.
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