HBA-MSH, CMT H.B. 1819 77(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 1819
By: Madden
Elections
4/16/2001
Introduced



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Currently, Texas has 243,394 citizens serving in the United States armed
forces, over 182,000 voting aged military family members, and more than
312,000 other citizens residing abroad that are eligible to vote. Citizens
living abroad are often faced with contingencies that preclude normal mail
delivery.  The U.S. Department of Defense has made a number of
recommendations to help ensure that military personnel and other citizens
living abroad are able to vote in elections.  They include expanding the
use of the federal write-in ballot to simplify the voting process and
decrease the number of ballots a voter must send.  House Bill 1819 requires
the secretary of state to take certain actions to expand the use of the
federal write-in ballot for qualified voters living abroad. 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does
not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state
officer, department, agency, or institution. 

ANALYSIS

House Bill 1819 amends the Election Code to require the secretary of state
to prescribe procedures to allow a voter to apply for and cast a state
write-in ballot before the time a voter may receive a regular ballot to be
voted by mail if the voter is: 

_a member of the merchant marine of the United States or the spouse or a
dependent of a member; 

_domiciled in this state but temporarily living outside the territorial
limits of the United States and the District of Columbia; or  

_unable to cast a ballot on election day or during the regular period for
early voting because of a contingency that precludes normal mail delivery. 

The bill requires the secretary of state to prescribe procedures to allow a
voter who qualifies to vote by a federal write-in absentee ballot to vote
in any general, special, primary, or runoff election held in this state,
including elections for federal, state, and local offices. 

The bill requires the secretary of state to prescribe procedures so a
person who qualifies to vote by a federal write-in absentee ballot may use
the transmission envelope for the absentee ballot as a request to register
to vote in the election for which the absentee ballot is submitted if the
envelope contains the information that is required for registration and the
person submits the envelope to the early voting clerk on or before the 30th
day before election day.   

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2001.