89R14956 MPF-F
By: Gerdes H.B. No. 4985
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the procedures for a public test of logic and accuracy
of a voting system for certain elections.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 129.023, Election Code, is amended by
amending Subsection (c) and adding Subsection (c-2) to read as
follows:
(c) The general custodian of election records shall adopt
procedures for testing that:
(1) direct the testing board to cast votes;
(2) verify that each contest position, as well as each
precinct and ballot style, on the ballot can be voted and is
accurately counted;
(3) include overvotes and undervotes for each race, if
applicable to the system being tested;
(4) include write-in votes, when applicable to the
election;
(5) include provisional votes, if applicable to the
system being tested;
(6) calculate the expected results from the test
ballots;
(7) ensure that each voting machine has any public
counter reset to zero and presented to the testing board for
verification before testing;
(8) require that, for each feature of the system that
allows disabled voters to cast a ballot, at least one vote be cast
and verified by a two-person testing board team using that feature;
[and]
(9) require that, when all votes are cast, the general
custodian of election records and the testing board observe the
tabulation of all ballots and compare the actual results to the
expected results; and
(10) verify that, for an election in which a poll list
in the form of an electronic device is used, the precinct and ballot
style associated with each voter on the poll list matches the
precinct and ballot style that will be provided to the voter on a
voting machine.
(c-2) A test conducted under this section for a runoff
primary election must also require the general custodian of
election records to verify that a poll list in the form of an
electronic device has the correct political party affiliation
information for each voter.
SECTION 2. The changes in law made by this Act apply only to
an election ordered on or after the effective date of this Act.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.