88R13395 MLH-F
 
  By: Gerdes H.B. No. 4259
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to the members on an early voting ballot board.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Section 87.002, Election Code, is amended by
  amending Subsections (a), (c), and (d) and adding Subsection (e) to
  read as follows:
         (a)  The early voting ballot board must have an odd number of
  members and consists of a presiding judge, an alternate presiding
  judge, and at least three [one] other members [member].
         (c)  In the general election for state and county officers,
  or in a special election in which party alignment is indicated on
  the ballot, each county chair of a political party with nominees on
  the general election ballot shall submit to the county election
  board a list of names of persons eligible to serve on the early
  voting ballot board in order of the county chair's preference.  The
  county election board shall appoint at least two people [one
  person] from each list to serve as a member of the early voting
  ballot board.  The same number of members must be appointed from
  each list.  The county election board shall appoint persons as
  members of the early voting ballot board in the order of preference
  indicated on each list.
         (d)  In addition to the members appointed under Subsection
  (c), the county election board shall appoint as the presiding judge
  the highest-ranked person on the list provided under that
  subsection by the political party whose nominee for governor
  received the most votes in the county in the most recent
  gubernatorial general election.  The county election board shall
  appoint [and] as the alternate presiding judge the highest-ranked
  person appointed to the board from [on] the list provided under
  Subsection (c) [that subsection] by the political party whose
  nominee for governor received the second most votes in the county in
  the most recent gubernatorial general election.
         (e)  The alternate presiding judge is considered a member of
  the board and serves as presiding judge only in the absence of the
  presiding judge.
         SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2023.