By Patterson S.B. No. 1087
75R3665 GGS-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the use and distribution of the form for an application
1-3 for an early voting ballot.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Section 84.001(c), Election Code, is amended to
1-6 read as follows:
1-7 (c) An applicant must [is not required to] use an officially
1-8 prescribed [official] application form obtained from the early
1-9 voting clerk on request of the applicant.
1-10 SECTION 2. Section 84.011, Election Code, is amended by
1-11 amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsection (c) to read as
1-12 follows:
1-13 (a) The officially prescribed application form for an early
1-14 voting ballot must include:
1-15 (1) immediately preceding the signature space the
1-16 statement: "I certify that the information given in this
1-17 application is true, and I understand that giving false information
1-18 in this application is a crime.";
1-19 (2) a statement informing the applicant [voters] of
1-20 the offense prescribed by Section 84.004;
1-21 (3) spaces for entering an applicant's voter
1-22 registration number and county election precinct of registration,
1-23 with a statement informing the applicant that failure to furnish
1-24 that information does not invalidate the application; and
2-1 (4) on an application for a ballot to be voted by
2-2 mail:
2-3 (A) a space for an applicant applying on the
2-4 ground of absence from the county of residence to indicate the date
2-5 on or after which the applicant can receive mail at the address
2-6 outside the county;
2-7 (B) a space for indicating the fact that an
2-8 applicant whose application is signed by a witness cannot make the
2-9 applicant's [his] mark and a space for indicating the relationship
2-10 or [the] lack of relationship of the witness to the applicant;
2-11 [and]
2-12 (C) a space for entering an applicant's
2-13 telephone number, with a statement informing the applicant that
2-14 failure to furnish that information does not invalidate the
2-15 application; and
2-16 (D) a statement informing the applicant of the
2-17 requirement prescribed by Section 84.001(c).
2-18 (c) Each application form for a ballot to be voted by mail
2-19 must be printed or marked with a number, code, or other notation,
2-20 as approved by the secretary of state, that identifies the form as
2-21 having been provided by the particular early voting clerk.
2-22 SECTION 3. Section 84.012, Election Code, is amended to read
2-23 as follows:
2-24 Sec. 84.012. CLERK TO MAIL APPLICATION FORM ON REQUEST. The
2-25 early voting clerk shall mail without charge an appropriate
2-26 official application form for an early voting ballot to each
2-27 applicant [person] requesting the clerk to send the applicant [him]
3-1 an application form.
3-2 SECTION 4. Section 84.013, Election Code, is repealed.
3-3 SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.
3-4 SECTION 6. 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.