| |
| |
|
|
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. |