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Senate Bill 100 |
Senate Author: Van de Putte |
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Effective: 9-1-11 |
House Sponsor: Taylor, Van |
Senate Bill 100 updates provisions of the Education Code, Election Code, Health and Safety Code, Local Government Code, and Water Code relating to the adoption of procedures necessary to implement the federal Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment (MOVE) Act, deadlines for declaration of candidacy and ordering certain elections, uniform election date changes for certain local government elections, and terms of office for certain municipal elected officials.
Senate Bill 100 implements the federal MOVE Act provisions changing how military and overseas voters vote by expanding the elections covered to include any general or runoff election in which an office of the federal government appears or to fill a vacancy in the legislature with certain exceptions, or an election held jointly with those elections. The bill authorizes the e-mail transmission of balloting materials to a member of the armed forces or merchant marine, or the member's spouse or dependent, or a person domiciled in Texas but temporarily living outside of the United States. The bill sets out provisions relating to requests for balloting materials, types of balloting materials to be sent electronically, allowable methods of electronically transmitting ballot materials, and procedures for retransmission if balloting materials are unsuccessfully transmitted and for returning an electronically transmitted ballot. The bill designates the secretary of state as the state coordinator between military and overseas voters and county election officials, requires the county election officials to cooperate with the secretary of state and comply with the MOVE Act, and authorizes the secretary of state to implement rules as necessary to implement the act.
The bill requires the secretary of state, in coordination with local election officials, to implement an electronic free-access system by which a military and overseas voter eligible for early voting by mail may determine by telephone, by e-mail, or over the Internet whether the person's federal postcard application or other registration or ballot application has been received and accepted, whether the person's ballot has been received, and the current status of the ballot.