88R13395 MLH-F
By: Gerdes H.B. No. 4259
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the members on an early voting ballot board.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 87.002, Election Code, is amended by
amending Subsections (a), (c), and (d) and adding Subsection (e) to
read as follows:
(a) The early voting ballot board must have an odd number of
members and consists of a presiding judge, an alternate presiding
judge, and at least three [one] other members [member].
(c) In the general election for state and county officers,
or in a special election in which party alignment is indicated on
the ballot, each county chair of a political party with nominees on
the general election ballot shall submit to the county election
board a list of names of persons eligible to serve on the early
voting ballot board in order of the county chair's preference. The
county election board shall appoint at least two people [one
person] from each list to serve as a member of the early voting
ballot board. The same number of members must be appointed from
each list. The county election board shall appoint persons as
members of the early voting ballot board in the order of preference
indicated on each list.
(d) In addition to the members appointed under Subsection
(c), the county election board shall appoint as the presiding judge
the highest-ranked person on 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. The county election board shall
appoint [and] as the alternate presiding judge the highest-ranked
person appointed to the board from [on] the list provided under
Subsection (c) [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.
(e) The alternate presiding judge is considered a member of
the board and serves as presiding judge only in the absence of the
presiding judge.
SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2023.