Highlights 77th Texas Legislature - Senate

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STATE AFFAIRS/ElectionsElections
77 th Texas Legislature
Updating Election Ballots - H.B. 1856
by Representatives Danburg and Madden
Senate Sponsor: Senator Shapiro
During the recent presidential election, butterfly design punch-card ballots were problematic. Currently,
punch-card ballot systems are used in 14 Texas counties.
Prohibits a voting system that uses a punch-card ballot or similar form of tabulating card from being
adopted on or after September 1, 2001, for use in elections, except for early voting by mail.
Requires the order of the candidates’ and propositions’ punch-hole spaces and corresponding numbers on
the ballot label to be the same as the order in which the names and propositions are to appear on the
official ballot.
Requires election officers, before the polls open, to check each voting device and remove any punch-card
ballot chads that have accumulated.
Requires sealed ballot boxes to be used to deliver electronic system ballots to the central counting station.
Requires the election manager to have the ballots examined to detect any irregularly marked ballots, and to
determine whether the ballots are ready for counting and can be properly counted. Requires the manager
to have each irregularly marked ballot duplicated to indicate the intent of the voter, if the voter's intent is
clearly discernable.
Requires the undervotes and overvotes on punch-card or centrally counted optical scan ballots to be tallied,
tabulated, and reported by race and by election precinct as prescribed the secretary of state.
Requires an electronic voting system to require voters to deposit the ballots directly into a unit of automatic
tabulating equipment which must be programmed to return an irregularly marked ballot to the voter.
Sets forth provisions related to direct recording electronic voting machines.
Voter Rights Abuse Hotline - H.B. 2922
by Representative Jesse Jones, et al.
Senate Sponsor: Senator Whitmire
Requires the secretary of state to establish a toll-free telephone number to allow a person to report an
existing or potential abuse of voting rights.
Requires a notice informing voters of the telephone number and the purpose for the number to be
continuously posted in a prominent location at each polling place during the early voting period and on
election day for each election held on a uniform election date.
Senate Research Center 271