H.B. No. 1382
AN ACT
relating to the availability of certain information regarding early
voting.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Chapter 86, Election Code, is amended by adding
Section 86.015 to read as follows:
Sec. 86.015. ELECTRONIC TRACKING OF APPLICATION FOR BALLOT
VOTED BY MAIL OR BALLOT VOTED BY MAIL. (a) The secretary of state
shall develop or otherwise provide an online tool to each early
voting clerk that enables a person who submits an application for a
ballot to be voted by mail to track the location and status of the
person's application and ballot on the secretary's Internet website
and on the county's Internet website if the early voting clerk is
the county clerk of a county that maintains an Internet website.
(b) The online tool developed or provided under Subsection
(a) must require the voter to provide, before permitting the voter
to access information described by that subsection:
(1) the voter's name and registration address and the
last four digits of the voter's social security number; and
(2) the voter's:
(A) driver's license number; or
(B) personal identification card number issued
by the Department of Public Safety.
(c) An online tool used under this section must:
(1) for each election, record:
(A) each application for a ballot to be voted by
mail received by the clerk; and
(B) each carrier envelope sent to a voter by the
clerk;
(2) for each carrier envelope, record or assign a
serially numbered and sequentially issued barcode or tracking
number that is unique to each envelope; and
(3) update the applicable Internet website as soon as
practicable after each of the following events occurs:
(A) receipt by the early voting clerk of the
person's application for a ballot to be voted by mail;
(B) acceptance or rejection by the early voting
clerk of the person's application for a ballot to be voted by mail;
(C) placement in the mail by the early voting
clerk of the person's official ballot;
(D) receipt by the early voting clerk of the
person's marked ballot; and
(E) acceptance or rejection by the early voting
ballot board of a person's marked ballot.
(d) The secretary of state shall adopt rules and prescribe
procedures as necessary to implement this section.
(e) The information contained in Subsection (c) is not
public information for purposes of Chapter 552, Government Code,
until after election day.
SECTION 2. Section 87.121, Election Code, as amended by
Chapters 1083 (H.B. 1850) and 1215 (S.B. 902), Acts of the 86th
Legislature, Regular Session, 2019, is reenacted and amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 87.121. EARLY VOTING ROSTERS. (a) The early voting
clerk shall maintain for each election a roster listing each person
who votes an early voting ballot by personal appearance and a roster
listing each person to whom an early voting ballot to be voted by
mail is sent.
(b) For each person listed, the applicable roster must
include:
(1) the person's name, address, and voter registration
number;
(2) an identification of the person's county election
precinct of registration; and
(3) the date of voting or the date the ballot was
mailed to the person, as applicable.
(c) Each roster shall be updated daily.
(d) Each roster may be maintained in any form approved by
the secretary of state.
(e) The clerk shall preserve each roster after the election
for the period for preserving the precinct election records.
(f) Information on the roster for a person to whom an early
voting mail ballot has been sent is not available for public
inspection, except to the voter seeking to verify that the
information pertaining to the voter is accurate, until the first
business day after election day.
(g) Information on the roster for a person who votes an
early voting ballot by personal appearance shall be made available
for public inspection as provided by Subsection (i) not later than
11 a.m. on the day after the date the information is entered on the
roster under Subsection (c).
(h) Information on the roster for a person who votes an
early voting ballot by mail shall be made available for public
inspection as provided by Subsection (i) not later than 11 a.m. on
the day following the day the early voting clerk receives any [a]
ballot voted by mail.
(i) The information under Subsections (g) and (h) must be
made available:
(1) for an election in which the county clerk is the
early voting clerk:
(A) on the publicly accessible Internet website
of the county; or
(B) if the county does not maintain a website, on
the bulletin board used for posting notice of meetings of the
commissioners court; or
(2) for an election not described by Subdivision (1):
(A) on the publicly accessible Internet website
of the authority ordering the election; or
(B) if the authority ordering the election does
not maintain a website, on the bulletin board used for posting
notice of meetings of the governing body of the authority.
(j) [(i)] The early voting clerk for a primary election or
the general election for state and county officers shall submit to
the secretary of state for posting on the secretary of state's
Internet website the information described by:
(1) Subsection (g) not later than 11 a.m. on the day
after the date the information is entered on the roster under
Subsection (c); and
(2) Subsection (h) not later than 11 a.m. on the day
following the day the early voting clerk receives any [a] ballot
voted by mail.
(k) The early voting clerk for a primary election or the
general election for state and county officers shall submit to the
secretary of state for posting on the secretary of state's Internet
website the election day information described by Subsections (g)
and (h) not later than 11 a.m. on the day after the election.
(l) The early voting clerk for a primary election or the
general election for state and county officers shall submit to the
secretary of state for posting on the secretary of state's Internet
website the final rosters containing information described by
Subsections (g) and (h) not later than the 20th day after the date
of the local canvass.
(m) [(j)] The secretary of state shall [make any early
voting roster created under this section available to the public on
the secretary's Internet website.
[(j) The secretary of state shall] post the information
described by Subsection (j) [(i)] on the secretary of state's
Internet website in a downloadable format not later than 11 a.m. on
the day following the day of receipt of the information.
(n) [(k)] The secretary of state shall create a system for
an early voting clerk for a primary election or the general election
for state and county officers to provide the information to the
secretary of state for posting on the secretary of state's Internet
website under Subsection (j) [(i)].
SECTION 3. To the extent of any conflict, this Act prevails
over another Act of the 87th Legislature, Regular Session, 2021,
relating to nonsubstantive additions to and corrections in enacted
codes.
SECTION 4. The changes in law made by Section 1 of this Act
apply beginning with an application for a ballot to be voted by mail
for an election held on or after January 1, 2022.
SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2021.
______________________________ ______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 1382 was passed by the House on April
29, 2021, by the following vote: Yeas 142, Nays 3, 1 present, not
voting; and that the House concurred in Senate amendments to H.B.
No. 1382 on May 24, 2021, by the following vote: Yeas 145, Nays 1,
1 present, not voting.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 1382 was passed by the Senate, with
amendments, on May 18, 2021, by the following vote: Yeas 25, Nays
6.
______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
APPROVED: __________________
Date
__________________
Governor