81R10313 JRJ-F
By: Smith of Tarrant H.B. No. 3948
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to certain voting requirements and procedures.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. In enacting this legislation, the legislature
intends to express a broad consensus of the members and presiding
officers toward ensuring and enhancing two equally important and
compatible tenets of our democracy:
(1) the inviolability of the basic right of each voter
to be able to cast a ballot in any election in which the voter is
eligible to vote; and
(2) the integrity of the electoral process, to the end
that each vote cast by an eligible voter in an election be counted
and given equal weight without dilution by votes cast by persons not
eligible to vote in the election.
SECTION 2. (a) On offering to vote in an election, a voter
must present to an election officer at the polling place the voter's
voter registration certificate and one or more forms of
identification, including photo or nonphoto identification, to
help ensure a reliable and efficient voting process that protects
against and discourages voting fraud and other forms of unlawful
voting, prevents the votes of ineligible voters from being counted,
and facilitates and allows the votes of eligible voters to be
counted. To these ends, voter affidavits and other alternative
voting procedures shall be executed and followed if necessary to
implement appropriate exceptions or modifications to the
identification requirements to further balance the goals of
facilitating eligible voter participation and preventing voting
fraud and other forms of unlawful voting. Provisional voting shall
be required, as appropriate and necessary, for certain voters to
vote when the applicable identification requirements and related
voting requirements are not met. The secretary of state shall
prescribe appropriate procedures as necessary to implement this
subsection.
(b) To facilitate the balancing of the goals, as described
by Subsection (a) of this section, of ensuring a reliable and
efficient voting process that protects against and discourages
voting fraud and other forms of unlawful voting, preventing the
votes of ineligible voters from being counted, and facilitating and
allowing the votes of eligible voters to be counted, related voting
procedures and processes shall be added or modified as appropriate.
Notification of the identification requirements and related
procedures described by Subsection (a) of this section shall be
provided to voters on appropriate documents during the voter
registration process, on the websites of the secretary of state and
voter registrars who maintain websites, and on a posting outside
each polling location. The identification requirements and related
procedures shall be included in the training standards for election
officers and in the training programs provided by local election
officials. The secretary of state shall prescribe appropriate
procedures as necessary to implement this subsection.
(c) The Department of Public Safety may not collect a fee
for a personal identification certificate if the person is a voter
or applicant for voter registration and is obtaining the
certificate for the purpose of satisfying the identification
requirements described by Subsection (a) of this section.
SECTION 3. To the extent of any conflict with the Election
Code or other law, this Act prevails.
SECTION 4. (a) Except as provided by Subsection (b) of this
section, this Act takes effect January 1, 2010.
(b) The changes in law made by Section 2(b) of this Act
regarding training standards, training programs, and notification
requirements on websites and during the voter registration process
take effect September 1, 2009.