|
House Bill 2449 |
House Author: Aliseda et al. |
|
Effective: 9-1-11 |
Senate Sponsor: Hegar |
House Bill 2449 amends the Election Code relating to unlawfully obtaining ballots or carrier envelopes in violation of the prescribed method of returning a marked ballot. Under the bill, when a ballot or carrier envelope is unlawfully obtained by a person pursuant to a scheme or continuing course of conduct to commit voter fraud by mail the conduct may be considered as one offense and the number of ballots or carrier envelopes aggregated in determining the grade of the offense. Under previous law, a copy of an application for a mail-in ballot could be obtained from the early voting clerk within a certain period after the ballot was mailed to the voter before election day. The bill specifies that such a ballot is not available for public inspection, except to the voter seeking to verify that the information pertaining to the voter is accurate, until the first business day after election day.