By West                                          S.B. No. 130

      75R2126 GGS-D                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to the appointment of election judges for county election

 1-3     precincts.

 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 32.002, Election Code, is amended by

 1-6     amending Subsections (c) and (d) and adding Subsection (f) to read

 1-7     as follows:

 1-8           (c)  The presiding judge and alternate presiding judge must

 1-9     be affiliated or aligned with different political parties, subject

1-10     to this subsection.  Before July of each year, the county chair of

1-11     a political party whose candidate for governor received the highest

1-12     or second highest number of votes in the county in the most recent

1-13     gubernatorial general election shall submit in writing to the

1-14     commissioners court the name of a person for each precinct who is

1-15     eligible for appointment as an election judge.  The commissioners

1-16     court shall appoint the person whose name is submitted in

1-17     compliance with this subsection by the party with the highest

1-18     number of votes in the precinct as the presiding judge and the

1-19     person whose name is submitted in compliance with this subsection

1-20     by the party with the second highest number of votes in the

1-21     precinct as the alternate presiding judge.  If a name is not

1-22     submitted in compliance with this subsection, the commissioners

1-23     court shall appoint an eligible person who is affiliated or aligned

1-24     with the appropriate party, if available.

 2-1           (d)  The commissioners court shall fill a vacancy in the

 2-2     position of election judge for the remainder of the unexpired term.

 2-3     An appointment to fill a vacancy may be made at any regular or

 2-4     special term of court.  Not later than the 30th day after the date

 2-5     the vacancy occurs, the county chair of the same political party

 2-6     with which the original judge was affiliated or aligned shall

 2-7     submit to the commissioners court in writing the name of a person

 2-8     who is eligible for the appointment.  If a name is submitted in

 2-9     compliance with this subsection, the commissioners court shall

2-10     appoint that person to the unexpired term.  If a name is not

2-11     submitted in compliance with this subsection, the commissioners

2-12     court shall appoint an eligible person who is affiliated or aligned

2-13     with the same party, if available.  [(d)  The county clerk shall

2-14     recommend a presiding judge and an alternate judge for each

2-15     precinct and shall submit a list of the recommendations to the

2-16     commissioners court.  The clerk shall also recommend an appointee

2-17     for each unexpired term.  The court shall consider the clerk's

2-18     recommendation before making an appointment.]

2-19           (f)  Submissions and appointments shall be made under this

2-20     section so that the election judges fairly reflect the ethnic and

2-21     racial composition of the population of the election precinct

2-22     according to the most recent federal decennial census.

2-23           SECTION 2.  Section 32.007, Election Code, is amended by

2-24     amending Subsections (a) and (b) and adding Subsection (f) to read

2-25     as follows:

2-26           (a)  If neither the presiding judge nor the alternate

2-27     presiding judge can serve in an election and their inability to

 3-1     serve is discovered so late that it is impracticable to fill the

 3-2     vacancy in the normal manner, the presiding officer of the

 3-3     appointing authority or the authority if a single officer shall

 3-4     appoint a replacement judge to preside at the election, subject to

 3-5     Subsection (f).  If the appointing authority is unavailable, the

 3-6     authority responsible for distributing the supplies for the

 3-7     election shall appoint the replacement judge.

 3-8           (b)  If a person authorized to act as presiding judge is not

 3-9     present at the polling place at the time for opening the polls, on

3-10     receiving information of the absence, the authority authorized to

3-11     appoint a replacement under Subsection (a) shall investigate the

3-12     absence and appoint a replacement judge, subject to Subsection (f),

3-13     unless the authority learns that a previously appointed judge will

3-14     immediately report for duty.

3-15           (f)  A person who is appointed as a replacement for a judge

3-16     originally appointed under Section 32.002 must be affiliated or

3-17     aligned with the same political party as was the original judge, if

3-18     possible.

3-19           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.

3-20           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the

3-21     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

3-22     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

3-23     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

3-24     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.