SRC-TNM S.B. 511 75(R) BILL ANALYSIS Senate Research Center S.B. 511 By: Madla State Affairs 2-21-97 As Filed DIGEST Currently, primary election ballots include the party office listing of precinct chairman. A substantial amount of time and effort is being utilized to add the names of precinct chairmen names onto ballots, especially in counties with a large amount of precincts. Precinct chairman votes are required to be hand counted and, as a result, increase the time before the results for county, state, and federal elections are tabulated. S.B. 511 requires separate ballots for the election of the office of the precinct chairman in order to increase the efficiency of the release of county, state, and federal results. PURPOSE As proposed, S.B. 511 outlines provisions regarding the use of separate ballots for the election of the office of precinct chairman. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY This bill does not grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, institution, or agency. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1. Amends Section 172.089, Election Code, as follows: Sec. 172.089. New heading: ORDER OF PARTY OFFICE ON BALLOT. Deletes text requiring the party offices of the precinct chairman to be listed on the primary election ballot after the public offices with the office of the county chairman listed first. Makes conforming changes. SECTION 2. Amends Section 172.090(a), Election Code, to delete text requiring the county executive committee to provide, by order, for voting in a consolidated precinct by separate paper ballot for the office of precinct chairman in an election in which election precincts are consolidated. Requires the county executive committee to provide, by order, for voting by separate paper ballot for the office of precinct chairman. SECTION 3. Effective date: September 1, 1997. SECTION 4. Emergency clause.