87R8447 BRG-D
By: Patterson H.B. No. 2293
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the hours for voting during the early voting period.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Sections 85.005(a) and (b), Election Code, are
amended to read as follows:
(a) Except as provided by Subsection (c), in an election in
which a county clerk or city secretary is the early voting clerk
under Section 83.002 or 83.005, early voting by personal appearance
at the main early voting polling place shall be conducted on the
weekdays of the early voting period and during the hours that the
county clerk's or city secretary's main business office is
regularly open for business, except that voting may not be
conducted earlier than 6 a.m. or later than 9 p.m.[.]
(b) In an election to which Subsection (a) does not apply,
early voting by personal appearance at the main early voting
polling place shall be conducted at least eight hours each weekday
of the early voting period that is not a legal state holiday unless
the territory covered by the election has fewer than 1,000
registered voters. In that case, the voting shall be conducted at
least three hours each day. The authority ordering the election, or
the county clerk if that person is the early voting clerk, shall
determine which hours the voting is to be conducted except that
voting may not be conducted earlier than 6 a.m. or later than 9
p.m.[.]
SECTION 2. Section 85.006(c), Election Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(c) The authority ordering voting on a Saturday or Sunday
shall determine the hours during which voting is to be conducted
except that voting may not be conducted earlier than 6 a.m. or later
than 9 p.m.[.]
SECTION 3. Section 85.010(c), Election Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(c) A shared polling place established under Subsection (b)
that is designated as a main early voting polling place by any
political subdivision:
(1) must be open for voting for all political
subdivisions the polling place serves for at least the days and
hours required of a main early voting polling place under Section
85.002 for the political subdivision making the designation; and
(2) may not be open for voting earlier than 6 a.m. or
later than 9 p.m.[.]
SECTION 4. Section 85.064, Election Code, is amended by
adding Subsection (c) to read as follows:
(c) Early voting by personal appearance at a temporary
branch polling place may not be conducted earlier than 6 a.m. or
later than 9 p.m.
SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2021.