86R4726 SRS-F
By: González of Dallas H.B. No. 1459
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the appointment of early voting boards, including the
signature verification committee.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Sections 87.002(a), (b), and (d), Election Code,
are amended to read as follows:
(a) The early voting ballot board consists of a presiding
judge, an alternate presiding judge, and at least two other
members.
(b) Except as provided by Subsection (d), the presiding
judge and the alternate presiding judge are [is] appointed in the
same manner as a presiding election judge under Section 32.002.
Except as provided by Subsection (c), the other members are
appointed by the presiding judge in the same manner as the precinct
election clerks.
(d) In addition to the members appointed under Subsection
(c), the county election board shall appoint the presiding judge
from the list provided under that subsection by the political party
whose nominee for governor received the most votes in the county in
the most recent gubernatorial general election and the alternate
presiding judge from the list provided under that subsection by the
political party whose nominee for governor received the second most
votes in the county in the most recent gubernatorial general
election.
SECTION 2. Section 87.027(d), Election Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(d) The early voting clerk shall determine the number of
members who are to compose the signature verification committee and
shall state that number in the order calling for the committee's
appointment. A committee must consist of not fewer than five
members. In an election in which party alignment is indicated on
the ballot, each county chair of a political party with a nominee or
aligned candidate on the ballot shall submit to the appointing
authority a list of names of persons eligible to serve on the
signature verification committee. The authority shall appoint at
least two persons from each list to serve as members of the
committee. The same number of members must be appointed from each
list. The authority shall appoint the chair of the committee from
the list provided by the political party whose nominee for governor
received the most votes in the county in the most recent
gubernatorial general election. The authority shall also appoint a
vice chair of the committee from the list provided by a political
party whose nominee for governor received the second most votes in
the county in the most recent gubernatorial general election. A
vacancy on the committee shall be filled by appointment from the
original list or from a new list submitted by the appropriate county
chair.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2019.