Enrolled Bill Summary

Senate Bill 1073	Senate Author:  Zaffirini
Effective:  9-1-15	House Sponsor:  Rodriguez, Eddie

            Senate Bill 1073 amends the Election Code to revise certain requirements and procedures regarding a candidate's application or nomination for a place on the ballot.  The bill requires such an application to include a public mailing address and any available e-mail address at which the candidate receives correspondence relating to the candidate's campaign and requires a candidate on the general primary election ballot to be informed that certain contact information will be posted on the secretary of state's publicly viewable website.  The bill sets out procedures for the return, resubmission, and consideration of an application if payment of a filing fee is returned for insufficient funds.  In addition, the bill repeals provisions requiring candidates applying for a place on the ballot for certain judicial offices who choose to pay the filing fee to also file a petition and increasing the petition requirements for certain candidates who do not choose to pay the filing fee.

Senate Bill 1073 revises the requirement that the county executive committee canvass the precinct election returns for the county to instead require the county chair and, if available, at least one member of the county executive committee to canvass the returns.  Among other provisions, the bill requires the official result of the primary election that is determined from the local canvass of precinct returns, except for offices canvassed at the state level, to be posted to the secretary of state's website; revises the method by which the county chair certifies the name and address of each primary candidate who is nominated for a county or precinct office for placement on the general election ballot; requires the secretary of state to develop appropriate notations to describe the status of each candidate; and requires the authority preparing the official general election ballot to use the list of candidates named on the website as the nominees for general election in preparing the general election ballot.

Senate Bill 1073 transfers the responsibility for canvassing county election returns to the state chair and requires the secretary of state to preserve and archive on the secretary's website all of the information pertaining to candidates and the canvass results. The bill revises the method by which the state chair certifies the name and address of each primary candidate who is nominated for a statewide or district office and provides that the county clerk, rather than the county chair, is responsible for preparing a report of the number of votes received in a primary election in each election precinct by each candidate for certain state or federal offices.