84R8428 ATP-F
By: Sheets H.B. No. 1448
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the provision of a voter's thumbprint with a mailed
ballot.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 86.002, Election Code, is amended by
adding Subsection (g) to read as follows:
(g) The clerk shall include with the balloting materials a
disposable fingerprint inked strip and instructions for the voter
to include a thumbprint on the ballot.
SECTION 2. Section 86.005(c), Election Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(c) After marking the ballot and providing the thumbprint,
the voter must place the ballot [it] in the official ballot envelope
and then seal the ballot envelope, place the ballot envelope in the
official carrier envelope and then seal the carrier envelope, and
sign the certificate on the carrier envelope.
SECTION 3. Subchapter B, Chapter 87, Election Code, is
amended by adding Section 87.028 to read as follows:
Sec. 87.028. THUMBPRINT VERIFICATION COMMITTEE. (a) A
thumbprint verification committee may be appointed in the same
manner as a signature verification committee. A thumbprint
verification committee may, subject to the same restrictions as the
signature verification committee with respect to signatures,
determine whether the thumbprint submitted is that of the voter if
another sample of the voter's thumbprint from the same hand is
available for comparison.
(b) The secretary of state may establish methods to obtain
thumbprints of as many voters as possible for the purpose of this
section including entering into agreements with the Department of
Public Safety and other state agencies and governmental entities to
provide thumbprints.
SECTION 4. Section 87.041(b), Election Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(b) A ballot may be accepted only if:
(1) the carrier envelope certificate is properly
executed;
(2) neither the voter's signature on the ballot
application nor the signature on the carrier envelope certificate
is determined to have been executed by a person other than the
voter, unless signed by a witness;
(3) the voter's ballot application states a legal
ground for early voting by mail;
(4) the voter is registered to vote, if registration
is required by law;
(5) the address to which the ballot was mailed to the
voter, as indicated by the application, was outside the voter's
county of residence, if the ground for early voting is absence from
the county of residence;
(6) for a voter to whom a statement of residence form
was required to be sent under Section 86.002(a), the statement of
residence is returned in the carrier envelope and indicates that
the voter satisfies the residence requirements prescribed by
Section 63.0011; [and]
(7) the address to which the ballot was mailed to the
voter is an address that is otherwise required by Sections 84.002
and 86.003; and
(8) the voter has submitted a thumbprint, and if a
thumbprint verification committee was appointed, the thumbprint
has not been determined to belong to a person other than the voter.
SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2015.