BILL ANALYSIS C.S.H.B. 544 By: Danburg 04-25-95 Committee Report (Substituted) BACKGROUND Currently voters are prohibited from having in their possession at the time they vote a written communication from another person or organization identifying one or more candidates for whom the voter has agreed to vote or for whom the author of the communication has requested the voter to vote for. The prohibition of lists in the polling place often forces citizens to make uninformed votes. This is especially true in large counties where there are up to seventy separate races with well over one hundred candidates. PURPOSE HB 544 would allow voters to carry written documents, or lists, into the polling place with them. The documents would allow the voters to make informed voting decisions. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency or institution. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1. Amends Section 61.003 (c), Election Code, to change the offense under this Section to a Class B misdemeanor. SECTION 2. Amends Subchapter A, Chapter 61, Election Code, to add Section 61.011 (a) which allows voters to examine a written document only while marking the ballot and requires the voter to remove the document after voting; (b) which prescribes what size the written document must be if it is not from a general voter's guide or printed in a newspaper or by a non-partisan organization. Subsection (b) also states that a voter that has a written document that does not fall under these descriptions must be surrendered to the election official; and (c) which requires election officials to periodically check the voting stations for written documents that were left behind. SECTION 3. Amends Sections 63.011 and 63.012, Election Code, to remove the prohibition on written communications used in the polling place. SECTION 4. Amends Section 85.036 (e), Election Code, to change the offense under this Section to a Class B misdemeanor. SECTION 5. Transition clause relating to the effective date of this Act and the applicability of the offenses committed under it. SECTION 6. Effective date. SECTION 7. Emergency clause. COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE The original bill merely eliminated the prohibition against written documents in the polling place. The substitute added several elements which are meant to be safeguards against electioneering. The substitute added language to prohibit voters from examining their written document while in line or in any other place other than the voting station. This provision is found in SECTION 2, Section 61.011 (a) of the substitute. The substitute added language that makes the voter responsible for clearing the voting station of written documents after using them. This provision is found in SECTION 2 (Page 1, lines 16-18) of the substitute. The substitute added language delineating the size of the document that can be used and the size of the type that can be used on the document. This provision is found in SECTION 2, Section 61.011 (b) of the substitute. The substitute also changed the offenses under the sections of the Election Code applicable to this Act from Class C misdemeanors to Class B misdemeanors. SUMMARY OF COMMITTEE ACTION HB 544 was considered by the Committee on Elections in a public hearing on March 8, 1995. The following persons testified in favor of HB 544: W. Mark Cotham representing himself; Steve McDonald representing the Texas Democratic Party; John Willingham representing the Texas Association of Election Administrators; and Tony J. Sirvello representing Beverly Kaufman, Harris County Clerk, and Harris County Commissioners Court. The following persons testified neutrally on the bill: Ranette Boyd representing the City of Garland; and Tom Harrison representing the Secretary of State, Tony Garza. The bill was left pending. HB 544 was considered by the Committee on Elections in a public hearing on April 12, 1995. The Committee considered a complete substitute for the bill. One amendment was offered to the substitute. The amendment was adopted by a record vote of 6 AYES, 2 NAYS, 0 PNV, 1 ABSENT. The substitute, as amended, was adopted by a record vote of 6 AYES, 2 NAYS, 0 PNV, 1 ABSENT. The Chair directed the staff to incorporate the amendment into the substitute. HB 544 was reported favorably, as substituted with the recommendation that it do pass and be printed by a record vote of 6 AYES, 2 NAYS, 0 PNV, 1 ABSENT.