Bill Text: TX HB1462 | 2017-2018 | 85th Legislature | Comm Sub

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Bill Title: Relating to temporary branch polling place hours of operation.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 3-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2017-05-08 - Placed on General State Calendar [HB1462 Detail]

Download: Texas-2017-HB1462-Comm_Sub.html

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85R2698 GRM-F
By: Bonnen of Galveston, Laubenberg, Fallon, H.B. No. 1462
Shaheen

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to temporary branch polling place hours of operation.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Sections 85.062(c) and (e), Election Code, are
amended to read as follows:
(c) In any election, the location of a polling place
established under this section and each voting station located in
the polling place shall be fixed at one place for the duration of
the early voting period [that voting is required to be conducted at
the polling place].
(e) In an election covered by Subsection (d), a temporary
branch polling place that is located in a movable structure may be
established only with the approval of the county clerk. If a
[movable] temporary branch polling place is established in a
movable structure on the request of a political party, each other
political party whose nominee for governor in the most recent
gubernatorial general election received more than 10 percent of the
total number of votes received by all candidates for governor in the
election is entitled to establishment of such a polling place. The
election officers serving a polling place covered by this
subsection must be affiliated or aligned with different political
parties to the extent possible. The secretary of state, after
consulting the state chair of each affected political party, shall
prescribe the procedures necessary to implement this subsection.
SECTION 2. The heading to Section 85.064, Election Code, is
amended to read as follows:
Sec. 85.064. DAYS AND HOURS FOR VOTING: TEMPORARY BRANCH
[IN POPULOUS COUNTY].
SECTION 3. Section 85.064(b), Election Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(b) Early voting by personal appearance at each temporary
branch polling place [established under Section 85.062(d)] shall be
conducted on the days that voting is required to be conducted at the
main early voting polling place under Section 85.005 and remain
open for at least:
(1) eight hours each day; or
(2) three hours each day if the city or county clerk
does not serve as the early voting clerk for the territory holding
the election and the territory has fewer than 1,000 registered
voters. [The authority establishing the temporary branch polling
place shall determine the hours during which the voting is to be
conducted on those days. The authority shall order voting to be
conducted for the same number of hours that voting is required to be
conducted on those days at the main early voting polling place under
Section 85.005 on receipt of a written request for those hours
submitted by at least 15 registered voters of the county. The
request must be submitted in time to enable compliance with Section
85.067.]
SECTION 4. Section 85.068(a), Election Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(a) The early voting clerk shall post notice for each
election stating any dates and the hours that voting on Saturday or
Sunday will be conducted under Section 85.064(d) [or 85.065(b)], if
the early voting clerk is a county clerk or city secretary under
Section 83.002 or 83.005.
SECTION 5. The following provisions of the Election Code
are repealed:
(1) Sections 85.064(a) and (c); and
(2) Section 85.065.
SECTION 6. This Act takes effect September 1, 2017.