81R6175 JRH-D
By: Brown of Kaufman H.B. No. 1145
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the appointment of election judges.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Sections 32.002(a), (b), and (c), Election Code,
are amended to read as follows:
(a) The commissioners court at its August [July] term shall
appoint the election judges for each regular county election
precinct.
(b) Judges appointed under Subsection (a) serve for a term
of one year beginning on September 1 [August 1] following the
appointment, except that the commissioners court by order recorded
in its minutes may provide for a term of two years.
(c) The presiding judge and alternate presiding judge must
be affiliated or aligned with different political parties, subject
to this subsection. Before August [July] of each year, the county
chair of a political party whose candidate for governor received
the highest or second highest number of votes in the county in the
most recent gubernatorial general election shall submit in writing
to the commissioners court a list of names of persons in order of
preference for each precinct who are eligible for appointment as an
election judge. The county chair may supplement the list of names
of persons until the 20th day before a general election or the 15th
day before a special election in case an appointed election judge
becomes unable to serve. The commissioners court shall appoint the
first person meeting the applicable eligibility requirements from
the list submitted in compliance with this subsection by the party
with the highest number of votes in the precinct as the presiding
judge and the first person meeting the applicable eligibility
requirements from the list submitted in compliance with this
subsection by the party with the second highest number of votes in
the precinct as the alternate presiding judge. The commissioners
court may reject the list if the persons whose names are submitted
on the list are determined not to meet the applicable eligibility
requirements.
SECTION 2. The term of an election judge serving on the
effective date of this Act expires:
(1) September 1, 2010, if the judge's term would expire
August 1, 2010, under Section 32.002(b), Election Code, as that
section existed before amendment by this Act; or
(2) September 1, 2011, if the judge's term would expire
August 1, 2011, under Section 32.002(b), Election Code, as that
section existed before amendment by this Act.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect January 1, 2010.