By Danburg                                             H.B. No. 544
       74R2605 GGS-D
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to written communications used by voters in a polling
    1-3  place.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Subchapter A, Chapter 61, Election Code, is
    1-6  amended by adding Section 61.011 to read as follows:
    1-7        Sec. 61.011.  REMOVING WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS FOUND IN
    1-8  POLLING PLACE.  (a)  An election officer shall periodically check
    1-9  each voting station and other areas of the polling place for sample
   1-10  ballots or other written communications used by voters that were
   1-11  left or discarded in the polling place.
   1-12        (b)  An election officer shall remove from the sight of the
   1-13  voters any written communication found under Subsection (a).
   1-14        SECTION 2.  Sections 63.011 and 63.012, Election Code, are
   1-15  amended to read as follows:
   1-16        <Sec. 63.011.  WRITTEN COMMUNICATION PROHIBITED.  (a)  A
   1-17  voter may not have in his actual possession while marking the
   1-18  ballot a written communication that:>
   1-19              <(1)  was prepared and furnished to the voter by
   1-20  another person; and>
   1-21              <(2)  is marked or printed in a way that identifies one
   1-22  or more candidates or measures for which the voter has agreed to
   1-23  vote or has been requested to vote.>
   1-24        <(b)  A sample ballot that has not been marked or printed in
    2-1  a way that identifies candidates or measures for which to vote,
    2-2  that is obtained by the voter from a newspaper or another person,
    2-3  and that the voter marks himself is one example of a written
    2-4  communication that is not prohibited under Subsection (a).>
    2-5        <(c)  An election officer may not accept a voter for voting
    2-6  if the officer knows that the voter has actual possession of a
    2-7  communication prohibited by Subsection (a) at the time he offers to
    2-8  vote.>
    2-9        <(d)  An election officer may require a voter to answer under
   2-10  oath whether the voter has actual possession of a communication
   2-11  prohibited by Subsection (a).  If a voter has a prohibited
   2-12  communication, the voter may not receive an official ballot until
   2-13  the voter delivers the communication to the election officer.>
   2-14        <(e)  A person commits an offense if the person violates
   2-15  Subsection (a).  The offense is a Class C misdemeanor.>
   2-16        Sec. 63.011 <63.012>.  Unlawfully Accepting or Refusing to
   2-17  Accept Voter.  (a)  An election officer commits an offense if the
   2-18  officer knowingly:
   2-19              (1)  permits an ineligible voter to vote without having
   2-20  been challenged; or
   2-21              (2)  refuses to accept a person for voting whose
   2-22  acceptance is required by this code.
   2-23        (b)  An offense under this section is a Class B misdemeanor.
   2-24        SECTION 3.  An offense under Section 63.011, Election Code,
   2-25  committed before the effective date of this Act is subject to the
   2-26  law in effect when the offense was committed, and that law is
   2-27  continued in effect for that purpose.  For purposes of this
    3-1  section, an offense was committed before the effective date of this
    3-2  Act if any element of the offense occurred before that date.
    3-3        SECTION 4.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1995.
    3-4        SECTION 5.  The importance of this legislation and the
    3-5  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
    3-6  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
    3-7  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
    3-8  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.