Texas 2021 - 87th Regular

Texas House Bill HB1382 Compare Versions

Version 1 (Old)

Version 2 (New)

Old	New		Differences
1		-	H.B. No. 1382
	1	+	By: Bucy, et al. (Senate Sponsor - Hughes , Hall) H.B. No. 1382
	2	+	(In the Senate - Received from the House May 3, 2021;
	3	+	May 4, 2021, read first time and referred to Committee on State
	4	+	Affairs; May 14, 2021, reported favorably by the following vote:
	5	+	Yeas 9, Nays 0; May 14, 2021, sent to printer.)
	6	+	Click here to see the committee vote
2	7
3	8
	9	+	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
4	10		AN ACT
5	11		relating to the availability of certain information regarding early
6	12		voting.
7	13		BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
8	14		SECTION 1. Chapter 86, Election Code, is amended by adding
9	15		Section 86.015 to read as follows:
10	16		Sec. 86.015. ELECTRONIC TRACKING OF APPLICATION FOR BALLOT
11	17		VOTED BY MAIL OR BALLOT VOTED BY MAIL. (a) The secretary of state
12	18		shall develop or otherwise provide an online tool to each early
13	19		voting clerk that enables a person who submits an application for a
14	20		ballot to be voted by mail to track the location and status of the
15	21		person's application and ballot on the secretary's Internet website
16	22		and on the county's Internet website if the early voting clerk is
17	23		the county clerk of a county that maintains an Internet website.
18	24		(b) The online tool developed or provided under Subsection
19	25		(a) must require the voter to provide, before permitting the voter
20	26		to access information described by that subsection:
21	27		(1) the voter's name and registration address and the
22	28		last four digits of the voter's social security number; and
23	29		(2) the voter's:
24	30		(A) driver's license number; or
25	31		(B) personal identification card number issued
26	32		by the Department of Public Safety.
27		-	(c) An online tool used under this section must:
28		-	(1) for each election, record:
29		-	(A) each application for a ballot to be voted by
30		-	mail received by the clerk; and
31		-	(B) each carrier envelope sent to a voter by the
32		-	clerk;
33		-	(2) for each carrier envelope, record or assign a
34		-	serially numbered and sequentially issued barcode or tracking
35		-	number that is unique to each envelope; and
36		-	(3) update the applicable Internet website as soon as
37		-	practicable after each of the following events occurs:
38		-	(A) receipt by the early voting clerk of the
39		-	person's application for a ballot to be voted by mail;
40		-	(B) acceptance or rejection by the early voting
41		-	clerk of the person's application for a ballot to be voted by mail;
42		-	(C) placement in the mail by the early voting
43		-	clerk of the person's official ballot;
44		-	(D) receipt by the early voting clerk of the
45		-	person's marked ballot; and
46		-	(E) acceptance or rejection by the early voting
47		-	ballot board of a person's marked ballot.
	33	+	(c) An online tool used under this section must update the
	34	+	applicable Internet website as soon as practicable after each of
	35	+	the following events occurs:
	36	+	(1) receipt by the early voting clerk of the person's
	37	+	application for a ballot to be voted by mail;
	38	+	(2) acceptance or rejection by the early voting clerk
	39	+	of the person's application for a ballot to be voted by mail;
	40	+	(3) placement in the mail by the early voting clerk of
	41	+	the person's official ballot;
	42	+	(4) receipt by the early voting clerk of the person's
	43	+	marked ballot; and
	44	+	(5) acceptance or rejection by the early voting ballot
	45	+	board of a person's marked ballot.
48	46		(d) The secretary of state shall adopt rules and prescribe
49	47		procedures as necessary to implement this section.
50	48		(e) The information contained in Subsection (c) is not
51	49		public information for purposes of Chapter 552, Government Code,
52	50		until after election day.
53	51		SECTION 2. Section 87.121, Election Code, as amended by
54	52		Chapters 1083 (H.B. 1850) and 1215 (S.B. 902), Acts of the 86th
55	53		Legislature, Regular Session, 2019, is reenacted and amended to
56	54		read as follows:
57	55		Sec. 87.121. EARLY VOTING ROSTERS. (a) The early voting
58	56		clerk shall maintain for each election a roster listing each person
59	57		who votes an early voting ballot by personal appearance and a roster
60	58		listing each person to whom an early voting ballot to be voted by
61	59		mail is sent.
62	60		(b) For each person listed, the applicable roster must
63	61		include:
64	62		(1) the person's name, address, and voter registration
65	63		number;
66	64		(2) an identification of the person's county election
67	65		precinct of registration; and
68	66		(3) the date of voting or the date the ballot was
69	67		mailed to the person, as applicable.
70	68		(c) Each roster shall be updated daily.
71	69		(d) Each roster may be maintained in any form approved by
72	70		the secretary of state.
73	71		(e) The clerk shall preserve each roster after the election
74	72		for the period for preserving the precinct election records.
75	73		(f) Information on the roster for a person to whom an early
76	74		voting mail ballot has been sent is not available for public
77	75		inspection, except to the voter seeking to verify that the
78	76		information pertaining to the voter is accurate, until the first
79	77		business day after election day.
80	78		(g) Information on the roster for a person who votes an
81	79		early voting ballot by personal appearance shall be made available
82	80		for public inspection as provided by Subsection (i) not later than
83	81		11 a.m. on the day after the date the information is entered on the
84	82		roster under Subsection (c).
85	83		(h) Information on the roster for a person who votes an
86	84		early voting ballot by mail shall be made available for public
87	85		inspection as provided by Subsection (i) not later than 11 a.m. on
88	86		the day following the day the early voting clerk receives any [a]
89	87		ballot voted by mail.
90	88		(i) The information under Subsections (g) and (h) must be
91	89		made available:
92	90		(1) for an election in which the county clerk is the
93	91		early voting clerk:
94	92		(A) on the publicly accessible Internet website
95	93		of the county; or
96	94		(B) if the county does not maintain a website, on
97	95		the bulletin board used for posting notice of meetings of the
98	96		commissioners court; or
99	97		(2) for an election not described by Subdivision (1):
100	98		(A) on the publicly accessible Internet website
101	99		of the authority ordering the election; or
102	100		(B) if the authority ordering the election does
103	101		not maintain a website, on the bulletin board used for posting
104	102		notice of meetings of the governing body of the authority.
105	103		(j) [(i)] The early voting clerk for a primary election or
106	104		the general election for state and county officers shall submit to
107	105		the secretary of state for posting on the secretary of state's
108	106		Internet website the information described by:
109	107		(1) Subsection (g) not later than 11 a.m. on the day
110	108		after the date the information is entered on the roster under
111	109		Subsection (c); and
112	110		(2) Subsection (h) not later than 11 a.m. on the day
113	111		following the day the early voting clerk receives any [a] ballot
114	112		voted by mail.
115	113		(k) The early voting clerk for a primary election or the
116	114		general election for state and county officers shall submit to the
117	115		secretary of state for posting on the secretary of state's Internet
118	116		website the election day information described by Subsections (g)
119	117		and (h) not later than 11 a.m. on the day after the election.
120	118		(l) The early voting clerk for a primary election or the
121	119		general election for state and county officers shall submit to the
122	120		secretary of state for posting on the secretary of state's Internet
123	121		website the final rosters containing information described by
124	122		Subsections (g) and (h) not later than the 20th day after the date
125	123		of the local canvass.
126	124		(m) [(j)] The secretary of state shall [make any early
127	125		voting roster created under this section available to the public on
128	126		the secretary's Internet website.
129	127		[(j) The secretary of state shall] post the information
130	128		described by Subsection (j) [(i)] on the secretary of state's
131	129		Internet website in a downloadable format not later than 11 a.m. on
132	130		the day following the day of receipt of the information.
133	131		(n) [(k)] The secretary of state shall create a system for
134	132		an early voting clerk for a primary election or the general election
135	133		for state and county officers to provide the information to the
136	134		secretary of state for posting on the secretary of state's Internet
137	135		website under Subsection (j) [(i)].
138	136		SECTION 3. To the extent of any conflict, this Act prevails
139	137		over another Act of the 87th Legislature, Regular Session, 2021,
140	138		relating to nonsubstantive additions to and corrections in enacted
141	139		codes.
142	140		SECTION 4. The changes in law made by Section 1 of this Act
143	141		apply beginning with an application for a ballot to be voted by mail
144	142		for an election held on or after January 1, 2022.
145	143		SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2021.
146		-	______________________________ ______________________________
147		-	President of the Senate Speaker of the House
148		-	I certify that H.B. No. 1382 was passed by the House on April
149		-	29, 2021, by the following vote: Yeas 142, Nays 3, 1 present, not
150		-	voting; and that the House concurred in Senate amendments to H.B.
151		-	No. 1382 on May 24, 2021, by the following vote: Yeas 145, Nays 1,
152		-	1 present, not voting.
153		-	______________________________
154		-	Chief Clerk of the House
155		-	I certify that H.B. No. 1382 was passed by the Senate, with
156		-	amendments, on May 18, 2021, by the following vote: Yeas 25, Nays
157		-	6.
158		-	______________________________
159		-	Secretary of the Senate
160		-	APPROVED: __________________
161		-	Date
162		-	__________________
163		-	Governor
	144	+	* * * * *