Enrolled Bill Summary

House Bill 87	House Author:  Murr et al.
Effective:  6-18-23	Senate Sponsor:  Hughes

            House Bill 87 amends the Election Code to establish procedures for the replacement of faithless presidential electors. Among other provisions, the bill does the following:

·        requires the secretary of state to preside at the meeting of electors;

·        requires each elector nominee and alternate elector nominee of a political party or of an independent presidential candidate to execute a specified oath swearing that the person will serve and mark the person's ballots for president and vice president for the applicable party nominees or independent candidates;

·        establishes that the position of an elector is vacant if the elector has failed to execute the oath and provides for the secretary of state to fill the vacancy with a substitute elector, who must likewise execute an oath;

·        sets out a process for elector voting that conditions acceptance of an elector's ballots on consistency with the oath taken by the elector;

·        establishes that an elector who refuses to present a ballot, presents an unmarked ballot, or presents a ballot marked in violation of the elector's oath vacates the office of elector, creating a vacant position to be filled by the secretary of state; and

·        requires the voting process to be repeated until all of the state's electoral votes have been cast and recorded.

The bill requires the secretary of state to certify by a certain deadline that a candidate for president or vice president who received the most votes in Texas in the general presidential election is willing and able to serve in the position for which the candidate was elected unless the secretary of state has received a written certification from an applicable individual that the candidate is unable or unwilling to serve. If certification of a candidate's inability or unwillingness to serve is provided, the secretary of state must notify the candidate's party and post the certification online, and the electors must vote on the issue of whether that candidate is willing and able to serve in the position. If a majority of electors vote that the candidate is not willing or able to serve, the bill's elector oath requirements do not apply with respect to that candidate.

House Bill 87 also provides for the secretary of state to certify to the appropriate presidential elector candidates the name of a replacement nominee for a presidential or vice-presidential candidate who withdraws, dies, or is declared ineligible after the threshold date that allows for their replacement to be certified for placement on the ballot. The bill requires an elector to consider a certified replacement candidate to be the candidate for whom the elector is the corresponding presidential elector candidate.