By: Hall S.B. No. 108
(In the Senate - Filed November 12, 2024; February 3, 2025,
read first time and referred to Committee on State Affairs;
March 24, 2025, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 10,
Nays 0; March 24, 2025, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the appointment of election clerks.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 32.001, Election Code, is amended by
amending Subsection (b) and adding Subsection (c) to read as
follows:
(b) The alternate presiding judge shall serve as presiding
judge for an election if the regularly appointed presiding judge is
not present at a polling location or otherwise cannot serve.
(c) A person may not prevent an alternate presiding judge
from freely occupying or observing the area in which voters are
being accepted for voting.
SECTION 2. The heading to Section 32.031, Election Code, is
amended to read as follows:
Sec. 32.031. JUDGES [PRESIDING JUDGE] TO APPOINT CLERKS.
SECTION 3. Section 32.031(a), Election Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(a) The presiding judge and alternate presiding judge for
each election precinct shall each appoint [the] election clerks to
assist the judges [judge] in the conduct of an election at the
polling place served by the judges [judge].
SECTION 4. Section 32.033, Election Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 32.033. NUMBER OF CLERKS. (a) The authority that
appoints the election judges shall prescribe the maximum number of
clerks that each presiding judge and alternate presiding judge may
appoint for each election. The authority may prescribe different
maximums for different types of elections.
(b) Except as provided by Subsection (c), the presiding
judge shall appoint at least one clerk and the alternate presiding
judge shall appoint at least one clerk [two clerks] for each
precinct in each election. The presiding judge and alternate
presiding judge may each appoint as many additional clerks, within
the prescribed limit, as are necessary for the proper conduct of the
election.
(c) In each election ordered by the governor or a county
authority in which the regular county election precincts are
required to be used, the presiding judge and alternate presiding
judge shall each appoint clerks for each precinct in the number,
within the prescribed limit, the judges consider [judge considers]
necessary for the proper conduct of the election.
SECTION 5. Section 32.034, Election Code, is amended by
amending Subsections (b), (c), (d), and (e) and adding Subsection
(c-1) to read as follows:
(b) The county chair of a political party whose candidate
for governor received the highest or second highest number of votes
in the county in the most recent gubernatorial general election
may, not later than the 30th [25th] day before a general election or
the 10th day before a special election to which Subsection (a)
applies, submit to a presiding judge and alternate presiding judge
a list containing the names of at least two persons who are eligible
for appointment as a clerk. If a timely list is submitted, the
presiding judge shall appoint at least one clerk from the list and
the alternate presiding judge shall appoint at least one clerk from
the list[, except as provided by Subsection (c)].
(c) If only one additional clerk is to be appointed, the
presiding judge shall make the appointment from the list submitted
by the county chair of the party whose candidate for governor
received the second highest number of votes in the county in the
most recent gubernatorial election [for an election in which the
alternate presiding judge will serve as a clerk, the clerk shall be
appointed from the list of a political party with which neither the
presiding judge nor the alternate judge is affiliated or aligned,
if such a list is submitted. If two such lists are submitted, the
presiding judge shall decide from which list the appointment will
be made]. If such a list is not submitted, the presiding judge is
not required to make an appointment from any list.
(c-1) The presiding judge and alternate presiding judge
shall each appoint the same number of clerks to the extent possible
given the total number of clerks to be appointed.
(d) The presiding judge and the alternate presiding judge
shall make an appointment under this section not later than the
fifth day after the date the judges receive [judge receives] the
list and shall deliver written notification of the appointment to
the appropriate county chair.
(e) If a presiding judge and an alternate presiding judge
have [has] not been appointed at the time the county chair of a
political party is required to submit a list of names for the
appointment of a clerk under this section, a [the] list of names
shall be submitted by the county clerk to the county chair of the
political party that failed to timely submit a list of names [whose
candidate for governor received the most votes in the precinct in
the most recent gubernatorial election and to the commissioners
court]. The county chair, or the commissioners court in a county
without a county chair, shall appoint clerks from the list in the
same manner provided for a presiding judge and an alternate
presiding judge to appoint clerks by this section.
SECTION 6. Section 32.032, Election Code, is repealed.
SECTION 7. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.
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