Bill Text: TX HB5234 | 2023-2024 | 88th Legislature | Introduced

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Bill Title: Relating to election integrity and security, including by preventing fraud in the conduct of elections in this state; authorizing a penalty, increasing a penalty.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 2-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2023-03-24 - Referred to Elections [HB5234 Detail]

Download: Texas-2023-HB5234-Introduced.html

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By: Toth H.B. No. 5234

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to election integrity and security, including by
preventing fraud in the conduct of elections in this state;
authorizing a penalty, increasing a penalty.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
ARTICLE 1. GENERAL PROVISIONS
SECTION 1.01. SHORT TITLE. This Act may be cited as the
Election Accuracy, Transparency, and Accountability Act.
SECTION 1.02. Chapter 41 of the Texas Election Code is
amended to read as follows:
Sec. 41.002. GENERAL ELECTION FOR STATE AND COUNTY
OFFICERS. The general election for state and county officers shall
be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November in
even-numbered years. Voting by personal appearance shall begin 8
calendar days in advance of election day culminating on election
day for a total of 9 consecutive days for voting by personal
appearance.
SECTION 1.03. Title 7 of the Election Code shall be amended
to repeal provisions permitting and governing early voting by
personal appearance.
SECTION 1.04. Chapter 42 of the Texas Election Code shall be
amended as follows:
Sec. 42.006. POPULATION REQUIREMENTS. (a) Except as
otherwise provided by this section, a county election precinct must
contain at least 100 but not more than 2,000 [5,000] registered
voters.
SECTION 1.05. Chapter 43 of the Texas Election Code shall be
amended as follows:
Sec. 43.001. ONE POLLING PLACE IN EACH PRECINCT. Each
election precinct established for an election shall be served by a
single polling place located within the boundary of the precinct or
adjoining precinct. More than one precinct may vote at the same
location provided the location is large enough to accommodate all
election activities as required by this code while keeping those
activities separate and distinct for each precinct.
Sec. 43.031. POLLING PLACE IN PUBLIC BUILDING. (a) In this
subchapter, "public building" means a building owned or controlled
by the state or a political subdivision.
(b) Each polling place shall be located inside a building.
The room where the election is conducted shall be used solely for
that purpose during the election and shall be capable of being
locked and secured from unauthorized access at any time an election
judge is not present.
(b-1) No voter may cast a vote from inside a motor vehicle
unless the voter meets the requirements of Section 64.009. A
violation of this section is a state-jail felony offense.
Sec. 43.031 (e) A polling place may not be located at the
residence or business location of a person who is:
(1) a candidate for an elective office, including an
office of a political party; or
(2) related within the third degree by consanguinity
or the second degree by affinity, as determined under Chapter 573,
Government Code, to a candidate described by Subdivision (1).
(f) The polling place may not be located in a movable
structure.
SECTION 1.06. Chapter 51 of the Texas Election Code shall be
amended as follows:
Sec. 51.004. DISTRIBUTING SUPPLIES.
(b) The appropriate and sufficient amounts of supplies
including but not limited to ballots shall be distributed to each
presiding election judge not later than one hour before the polls
are required to be open for voting [and to the early voting clerk
before the beginning of early voting].
(c) In addition to any other penalty set forth in this code,
failure to comply with this section or Section 51.005 by an election
administrator or election officer whether or not intentional
impacting more than one precinct shall result in the removal of the
election administrator or election officer and the election shall
be reconducted.
Sec. 51.005. NUMBER OF BALLOTS. (a) The authority
responsible for procuring the election supplies for an election
shall provide for each election precinct a number of ballots equal
to at least the [percentage] number of registered voters [who
voted] in that precinct [in the most recent corresponding election]
plus 1 [25] percent of that number [except that the number of
ballots provided may not exceed the total number of registered
voters in the precinct].
Sec. 51.011. OBSTRUCTING DISTRIBUTION OF SUPPLIES. (a) A
person commits an offense if the person intentionally obstructs the
distribution of election supplies for an election.
(b) An offense under this section is a state jail felony
[Class C misdemeanor].
Sec. 51.013. IDENTIFICATION OF PRINTERS FOR PRIMARY
ELECTION OR GENERAL ELECTION FOR STATE AND COUNTY OFFICERS. Amend
to add (e), (f)and (g):
(e) Ballot printing services shall be procured from
printers located within the state of Texas.
(f) Chain of custody procedures including securing batches
with uniquely numbered seals that are logged, shall be followed
including documentation of such procedures by the printer from the
time the ballots come off the press until they are delivered
securely to the county elections officer. Failure of printer to
follow chain of custody procedures and/or produce required
documentation at the time of delivery of ballots shall result in
termination of all present and future contracts.
(g) Chain of custody procedures including securing batches
with uniquely numbered seals that are logged, shall be followed
including documentation of such procedures by the printer from the
time the ballots come off the press until they are delivered
securely to the county elections officer. Failure of printer to
follow chain of custody procedures and/or produce required
documentation at the time of delivery of ballots shall result in
termination of all present and future contracts.
SECTION 1.07. Chapter 52 of the Texas Election Code shall be
Amended to read as follows:
Sec. 52.0064. ACTIONS TO BE TAKEN BY RESPONSIBLE CLERK IN
EVENT OF MISPRINT or BALLOT PRINTING ERROR.
(a) In the event of a misprint or other error in printing one
or more ballots, such ballots must be marked "VOID" in large letters
across the front of the ballots. (b) Such void ballots must be
accounted for by ballot number, placed in locked containers with
numbered seals marked "VOID MISPRINTED BALLOTS" and placed in a
secure, locked location and retained as election records. Such
void ballots numbers shall be recorded as void numbers and no voided
ballot numbers may be used for any re-printed ballots. Strict chain
of custody procedures shall be followed.
[Sec.A52.0064.DESTRUCTION OF INCORRECT BALLOTS. (a) If new
ballots are prepared to make a correction on the ballot, the
authority responsible for having the official ballot prepared shall
destroy the incorrect ballots in the presence of: (1)the sheriff,
in an election ordered by the governor or a primary election; or
(2)the authority responsible for ordering the election, in any
other election. (b)The authority responsible for having the
official ballot prepared shall post in the authority 's office a
notice of the date, hour, and place of the destruction of the
incorrect ballots. The notice must remain posted continuously for
the 72 hours preceding the scheduled time of the destruction.
(c)Any interested person is entitled to be present at the
destruction of incorrect ballots. (d) The authority responsible for
having the official ballot prepared shall prepare a record of the
incorrect ballots that are destroyed. The authority shall preserve
the record for the period for preserving the precinct election
records.]
Sec. 52.061. PRINTING ON BALLOT. (a) The ballot shall be
designed for hand marking and shall be printed in black ink, on
secure, auditable, counterfeit resistant, non-encrypted paper, on
white or light-colored paper, but the ballot may not be the same
color as sample ballots. No ballot may contain any QR or bar code
or any other code not readable by the human eye nor may a ballot
contain any open or encrypted of tracking, tracing or identifying a
voter's ballot.
(c) The voting precinct number and polling location shall be
pre-printed on all pages of the ballot.
(d) Failure of the Election Administrator comply with this
section shall be a Class A misdemeanor.
Sec. 52.062. NUMBERING OF BALLOTS. The ballots prepared by
each authority responsible for having the official ballot prepared
shall be numbered sequentially and in accordance with this code,
with no gap in numbering, on the front and back of each ballot,
consecutively beginning with the number "1." No ballot in the state
shall have a duplicative number.
SECTION 1.08. Chapter 61 of the Texas Election Code shall be
amended as follows:
Sec. 61.002. CLOSING POLLING PLACE FOR VOTING.
(c) Immediately after closing the polls for voting on
[election day] the final day of voting, the presiding election
judge or alternate election judge shall follow the hand counting
procedures set forth in Chapter 61.0021 of the code. [print the tape
to show the number of votes cast for each candidate or ballot
measure for each voting machine.
Each election judge or alternate election judge present shall sign
a tape printed under this section]]
Sec. 61.0021 OF COUNTING ELECTION.
(a) All elections shall be conducted with full transparency
and video recorded without interruption. These video recordings
shall be made freely available to all interested parties and
publicly posted so that they can be access by every citizen without
cost or additional request. The video recordings must clearly
capture the ballot selections on each ballot counted and the
tabulation result associated with that ballot.
(a-1) If technically feasible, the hand counting procedure
may be live streamed.
(b) The election materials including ballots, ballot boxes,
and envelopes used for provisional ballots at a polling place shall
be in plain view of at least one election officer from the time the
polls open for voting until the precinct returns have been
certified. The election materials must also have constant video
recording from the time the polls open for voting until the precinct
returns have been certified while ensuring no individual voter is
identifiably recorded.
(c) All counting shall be done by hand at the precinct prior
to transporting the ballots to any other location.
(d) Counting shall be performed by bi-partisan teams. Each
team shall be assigned a reasonable number of ballots in batches and
the video recording will memorialize and confirm the count. Prior
to beginning the count, the video recording will begin by recording
a caption page. This page will define the time, date, team members,
supervisor members and a sample ballot. The video will conclude
showing the same caption page except that the caption page shall be
signed by the team members and the raw totals shall be listed by
race. This video recording shall be securely made so that it cannot
be altered in any way. A sufficient number of counting teams shall
be assembled so as to complete the count within approximately three
hours of the closing of the polls. These teams shall be supervised
by an appropriate number of supervisory teams composed of equal
numbers of the major political parties. At the conclusion of each
count, members of the counting team, supervisors and any poll
watchers present shall sign that the count has been completed and
report the totals they determined from that count.
(e) The public shall be provided with access to the video
recordings at the earliest time possible. Before the election may
be certified, the public shall be provided 30 days to examine the
video recordings for errors. Should a voter registered in the
county determine that the count was in error, such registered voter
shall notify the supervisor of elections of the error, identifying
the video that is in error along with the time location in the video
where the count was made incorrectly. The registered voter
reporting the error is not required to not make the report public.
The canvassing authority shall review the video recording in
question to make a determination whether the count was in error.
Poll watchers shall be permitted to be present during the review of
the video recording in question. If the error is confirmed, the
official results shall be corrected. Should the canvassing
authority fail to diligently correct the error prior to certifying
the election, or if there is a dispute as to whether an error
exists, two or more voters registered in the county are permitted to
file a suit and, if they are found to be correct, the plaintiffs
shall recoup their attorney's fees and costs of court associated
with the suit. In addition, members of the canvassing authority who
failed to correct the error shall be subject to recall and removal
from their elected office upon petition of 10 registered voters of
the jurisdiction, which recall shall be decided in a special
election to occur within 45 days after the filing of the petition.
During the interim, the members of the canvassing authority who are
the subject of the recall shall be suspended from their duties until
the recall results are determined.
(f) The court or jury shall make any required final
determination of an error in the count utilizing the video
recording of that team's count and may take testimony as required to
assist in their fact finding.
(g) At the conclusion of the counting process, the caption
pages of each team shall be compiled to determine the election
results. The tallies from the caption pages shall be recorded on a
final tally sheet and added by two members of a bi-partisan team.
Poll watchers may also verify the totals. Bi-partisan team members
shall sign the final tally sheet, certifying its accuracy.
(h) Mail in ballots shall be transported unopened to the
precinct in which the person would have voted in person. They shall
be opened at the precinct and counted with the ballots that were
voted in person.
(i) At no time will the supervisor of elections, any
election staff, nor any other party restore, clean-up, define,
enhance, or alter a voter's submitted ballot in any way. A
violation under this section is a Class A misdemeanor.
(j) The results of the hand count shall be posted on the door
of the precinct for a minimum period of three days. All precinct
results shall be posted by precinct, on the county website and the
secretary of state's website. The presiding judge shall ensure the
results are correctly posted both on the county's website and on the
secretary of state's website.
Sec. 61.005. SECURITY OF BALLOTS, BALLOT BOXES, AND
ENVELOPES. (a) From the time a presiding judge receives the
[official] ballots and other election materials [for an election]
until the closing of the polls on the final day of voting and
delivery of such voting materials to the official delivery
location,[precinct returns for that election have been certified,]
the presiding judge shall take the precautions necessary to prevent
access to such election materials, the ballots, ballot boxes, and
envelopes used for provisional ballots, ensure that the room where
the election is being conducted is locked and completely secured
from unauthorized access at any time the judge or an alternate judge
is not present, that the ballots both voted and unvoted are secured
in a box or cabinet that is secured with a uniquely numbered seal.
The numbers of such seals shall be logged on the reconciliation
reports by the judge or alternate judge. [in a manner not
authorized by law.]
(b) The ballots, ballot boxes, and envelopes used for provisional
ballots at a polling place shall be in plain view of at least one
election officer or secured as set forth in (a) above from the time
the polls open for voting until the precinct returns have been
certified.
(2) A presiding election judge commits an offense if the
judge fails to prevent another person from handling a ballot box
containing voters' marked ballots or an envelope containing a
voter's provisional ballot in an unauthorized manner or from making
an unauthorized entry into the ballot box or envelope. An offense
under this subsection is a Class A misdemeanor. If the offense is
committed knowingly, it shall be a third-degree felony.
(c)(1) At any time the judge suspects a security incident or
breach of the equipment, the ballot box, the unvoted ballots or of
any other election materials, or in the event a numbered seal does
not match the number of the seal recorded by the judge the night
before, the judge shall immediately segregate and secure the
affected box or materials, and shall contact both the county
sheriff and the county election officer and report the facts. If
necessary, the county election officer shall deliver additional
election materials, as needed to the precinct, within 1 hour of the
initial report in order that voting may continue. The judge shall
guard against unnecessary handling of breached election materials
and shall preserve any evidence that may assist in any
investigation. The county election officer and the sheriff shall
conduct a full investigation to determine what occurred and the
cause. The county election officer shall ensure that only legally
cast ballots are counted. If the breach was on a voting day prior to
election day, the county shall post an overnight guard at the
polling location for the remainder of the voting period to ensure no
further breach occurs.
(c)(2) At the appropriate time and as needed, the judge
shall provide an affidavit of facts. The county election officer
shall make a full report to the county party chairs and the
secretary of state within 24 hours of receiving the report.
Sec. 61.007. UNLAWFULLY REVEALING INFORMATION BEFORE POLLS
CLOSE. (c) Beginning at 9:30 a.m. on each day of voting and at each
subsequent two-hour interval through [5:30 p.m.] the closing of the
polls, the presiding judge shall post written notice of the total
cumulative number of voters who have voted in the precinct and the
number of voters who have voted that day. The notice shall be
posted at an outside door through which a voter may enter the
building in which the polling place is located.
Sec. 61.014. USE OF CERTAIN DEVICES. (a) A person may not
use a wireless communication device within 100 feet of a voting
station.
(b) A person may not use any mechanical or electronic means
of recording images or sound within 100 feet of the entrance to a
voting station.
(c) The presiding judge may require a person who violates
this section to turn off the device or to leave the polling place.
(d) This section does not apply to:
(1) an election officer in conducting the officer's
official duties;
(2) the use of election equipment necessary for the
conduct of the election; or
(3) a person who is employed or serving as a watcher at
the location in which a polling place is located while the person is
acting in the course of the person's employment or service.
(e) Violation of this section shall be an offense that is a
Class C misdemeanor.
SECTION 1.09. Chapter 63, Election Code, is amended as
follows:
Sec. 63.003. POLL LIST. (a) A printed, physical poll list
containing the list of names of the voters duly registered in the
precinct as of the date that is 30 days in advance of election day
including their residence address, whether they applied for a
mail-in ballot, and space to indicate the information required in
65.003(e) shall be [maintained] kept by an election officer at the
precinct polling place. (a)(1) Each voter shall be required to
place their regular signature upon the poll list in the signature
space next to their name.
(c) An election officer shall enter each accepted voter's
name by hand on [the] a separate voter roster list after the voter
signs the poll book list [signature roster]. The voter roster form
shall provide space for the judge to indicate whether the voter's
name is a similar name to the registered name rather than the exact
name. The voter roster shall be kept in quadruplicate with the
original going in the box with the voted ballots, a copy retained by
the election judge, a copy retained by the alternate election
judge, and a copy submitted to the county clerk in the appropriate
closing envelope. The county clerk shall provide the list to the
ballot board upon request.
(d) If the poll list indicates a voter requested a mail-in
ballot, the election judge shall ensure that the process for
cancelling the mail in ballot is followed before allowing a voter to
vote. [The poll list may be in the form of an electronic device
approved by the secretary of state. The secretary of state shall
adopt rules governing the use of electronic poll lists.]
(e) The poll book shall include space for an election
officer to indicate whether a voter executed a Declaration of
Reasonable Impediment under Section 63.001(i).
Sec. 63.011. PROVISIONAL VOTING. (a) A person to whom
Section 63.001(g) or 63.009 applies may cast a provisional ballot
if the person executes an affidavit stating that the person:
(1) is a registered voter in the precinct in which the
person seeks to vote; and
(2) is eligible to vote in the election.
(a-1) A person to whom the [early voting] clerk was required
to provide a[n] [early] voting ballot by mail under Section 86.001
and who did not vote [early] by mail may cast a provisional ballot
on election day if the person executes an affidavit stating that the
person:
(1) is a registered voter in the precinct in which the
person seeks to vote; and
(2) did not vote [early] by mail.
SECTION 1.10. Chapter 276.019, Election Code is amended as
follows:
Sec. 276.019. UNLAWFUL ALTERING OF ELECTION PROCEDURES. A
public official or election official may not create, alter, modify,
waive, or suspend any election standard, practice, or procedure
mandated by law or rule in a manner not expressly authorized by this
code. (a) A violation of this section is subject to injunctive
relief or mandamus as provided by this code; and
(3) (b) a knowing or intentional first offense
under this section is a class A misdemeanor;
(4) (c) each offense thereafter is a state jail
felony.
SECTION 1.11. Title 7 of the Election Code shall be amended
to repeal provisions permitting and governing early voting by
personal appearance.
SECTION 1.12. The following provisions of the Election Code
are repealed:
(1) Section 31.014;
(2) Section 32.002(c-1);
(3) Section 32.032;
(4) Section 43.004(c);
(5) Section 43.007;
(6) Section 52.075;
(7) Section 61.002 (a) and (b);
(8) Section 63.0102;
(9) Section 63.002(d);
(10) Section 63.004;
(11) Section 63.0102(d);
(12) Section 64.009(f), (f-1), (g), and (h);
(13) Section 82.003;
(14) Section 84.0111(c);
(15) Chapter 85;
(16) Title 8
SECTION 1.13. This Act takes effect September 1, 2023.