Bill Text: TX HB4782 | 2023-2024 | 88th Legislature | Introduced


Bill Title: Relating to electioneering conducted near a polling place.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 2-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2023-04-27 - Left pending in committee [HB4782 Detail]

Download: Texas-2023-HB4782-Introduced.html
 
 
  By: Smith H.B. No. 4782
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to electioneering conducted near a polling place.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Subchapter A, Chapter 61, Election Code, is
  amended to read as follows:
         Sec. 61.003.  ELECTIONEERING AND LOITERING NEAR POLLING
  PLACE. (a)  A person commits an offense if, during the voting
  period and within 100 feet of an outside door through which a voter
  may enter the building in which a polling place is located, the
  person:
               (1)  loiters; or
               (2)  electioneers for or against any candidate,
  measure, or political party. ; or
               (3)  conducts exit polling.
         (a-1)  The entity that owns or controls a public building
  being used as a polling place may not, at any time during the voting
  period, prohibit electioneering on the building's premises outside
  of the area described in Subsection (a), but may enact reasonable
  regulations concerning the time, place, and manner of
  electioneering.
         (b)  In this section:
               (1)  "Electioneering" includes the posting, use, or
  distribution of political signs or literature.  The term does not
  include the distribution of a notice of a party convention
  authorized under Section 172.1114.
               (2)  "Conducts exit polling" means any person or
  persons seeking to communicate with voters exiting the voting
  site.
               (2) (3)  "Voting period" means the period beginning
  when the polls open for voting and ending when the polls close or
  the last voter has voted, whichever is later.
         (c)  An offense under this section is a Class C misdemeanor.
         SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2023.
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