Bill Text: TX HB3970 | 2021-2022 | 87th Legislature | Comm Sub

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Bill Title: Relating to the acceptance and counting of early voting ballots voted by mail.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2021-05-05 - Committee report sent to Calendars [HB3970 Detail]

Download: Texas-2021-HB3970-Comm_Sub.html

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87R22052 SLB-F
By: Vasut H.B. No. 3970
Substitute the following for H.B. No. 3970:
By: Jetton C.S.H.B. No. 3970

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the acceptance and counting of early voting ballots
voted by mail.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Sections 87.041(a), (b), (c), (d), (e), and (g),
Election Code, are amended to read as follows:
(a) Except as provided by Subsection (d), the [The] early
voting ballot board shall inspect and open each jacket envelope and
carrier envelope for an early voting ballot voted by mail and
determine whether to accept the voter's ballot for counting.
(b) A ballot may be accepted for counting only if:
(1) the carrier envelope certificate is properly
executed;
(2) [neither] the voter's signature on the ballot
application and [nor] the signature on the carrier envelope
certificate are [is] determined to have been executed by the voter
and not by a person other than the voter, unless signed by a
witness;
(3) the voter's ballot application states a legal
ground for early voting by mail;
(4) the voter is registered to vote, if registration
is required by law;
(5) the ground for early voting is absence from the
county of residence and the address to which the ballot was mailed
to the voter, as indicated by the application, was outside the
voter's county of residence[, if the ground for early voting is
absence from the county of residence];
(6) for a voter to whom a statement of residence form
was required to be sent under Section 86.002(a), the statement of
residence is returned in the carrier envelope and indicates that
the voter satisfies the residence requirements prescribed by
Section 63.0011; and
(7) the address to which the ballot was mailed to the
voter is an address that is otherwise required by Sections 84.002
and 86.003.
(c) If a ballot is accepted for counting, the board shall
enter the voter's name on the poll list unless the form of the list
makes it impracticable to do so. The names of the voters casting
ballots by mail shall be listed separately on the poll list from
those casting ballots by personal appearance.
(d) A ballot shall be rejected if any requirement prescribed
by Subsection (b) is not satisfied. In that case, the board:
(1) may not open the carrier envelope; and
(2) shall indicate the rejection by entering
"rejected" on the carrier envelope and on the corresponding jacket
envelope.
(e) In making the determination under Subsection (b)(2),
the board may also compare the signatures with any [two or more]
signatures of the voter made within the preceding six years and on
file with the county clerk or voter registrar to determine whether
the signatures are those of the voter.
(g) A person commits an offense if the person intentionally
accepts a ballot for counting [voting] or causes a ballot to be
accepted for counting [voting] that the person knows does not meet
the requirements of Subsection (b). An offense under this
subsection is a Class A misdemeanor.
SECTION 2. Section 87.042, Election Code, is amended by
amending Subsections (a), (c), and (d) and adding Subsection (e) to
read as follows:
(a) Once a ballot has been accepted for counting, the [The]
early voting ballot board shall open each carrier envelope
containing the [an] accepted ballot without defacing the
certificate on the carrier envelope and remove the ballot envelope
from the carrier envelope. If the ballot is to be counted at a
central counting station, the early voting ballot board and the
signature verification committee may not open the official ballot
envelope of an accepted ballot.
(c) The official ballot envelope must be placed in a
separate container if:
(1) the ballots are to be counted at a central counting
station; or
(2) the procedure for counting the early voting votes
cast by personal appearance is different from that for counting the
votes cast by mail.
(d) An accepted ballot that was not returned in the official
ballot envelope shall be treated as an accepted ballot that was
returned in the official ballot envelope.
(e) A poll watcher is entitled to observe the acceptance of
early voting ballots voted by mail, including the work of the early
voting ballot board and any signature verification committee. The
poll watcher must be able to determine how the ballots are opened
and distributed and how the early voting ballot board and any
signature verification committee are making decisions about the
acceptance of ballots, if applicable. The poll watchers must
comply with all provisions of this code when carrying out their
duties.
SECTION 3. Section 87.044, Election Code, is amended by
adding Subsection (c) to read as follows:
(c) The provisions of Subsections (a) and (b) may be waived
if the application, the federal postcard application, if
applicable, and the cover sheet are maintained and retrievable in
an electronic format for at least 22 months from the date of the
last election to which those documents were applicable.
SECTION 4. The heading to Section 87.102, Election Code, is
amended to read as follows:
Sec. 87.102. SCANNING AND DUPLICATING PAPER BALLOTS FOR
AUTOMATIC COUNTING.
SECTION 5. Section 87.102, Election Code, is amended by
amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsection (c) to read as
follows:
(a) The authority adopting an electronic voting system in
which ballots are counted at a central counting station may direct
by resolution, order, or other official action that the early
voting regular paper ballots cast in an election be scanned and put
into a format that allows the ballots to be counted by the
[duplicated as electronic system ballots for] automatic counting
equipment at the central counting station. The presiding judge and
alternate presiding judge must be present and shall observe the
process of scanning.
(c) A ballot that is damaged or unreadable by the scanning
equipment used under this section may be duplicated as described by
this subsection. In the general election for state and county
officers, teams of two people, one designated by the chair of the
party whose candidate for governor received the highest number of
votes in the county in the most recent gubernatorial general
election, and one designated by the chair of the party whose
candidate received the second highest number of votes in that
election, shall copy the ballot onto a new ballot from the same
precinct and ballot style and shall write on the new ballot the
serial numbers of both the original and duplicate ballots in an ink
that cannot be read by the scanning equipment. The presiding and
alternate judges of the central counting station may inspect both
the original and the duplicate ballot to verify the accuracy of the
duplication. Each member of the duplication team shall sign their
names and print their names in a legible manner in a log of
duplications.
SECTION 6. Section 87.103, Election Code, is amended by
amending Subsection (b) and adding Subsections (c) and (d) to read
as follows:
(b) The early voting returns prepared at the central
counting station must include any early voting results obtained by
the early voting ballot board under Subchapter [Subchapters] D [and
E].
(c) If the automatic counting equipment discovers an
overvote in a scanned ballot, the presiding and alternate judges of
the central counting station, with the assistance of their clerks,
shall examine the ballot and jointly determine the intention of the
voter. If they are unable to make a determination of the voter's
intention, the vote in the race in which the overvote appears may
not be counted and the votes in the other races on the ballot shall
be counted.
(d) A poll watcher is entitled to observe the work of the
central counting station, including the counting of ballots. The
poll watcher must be able to determine how the ballots are counted
and how the presiding and alternate judges of the central counting
station are making decisions about the acceptance of ballots, if
applicable. The poll watchers must comply with all provisions of
this code when carrying out their duties.
SECTION 7. This Act takes effect September 1, 2021.