1-1     By:  Uher (Senate Sponsor - Brown)                    H.B. No. 2862
 1-2           (In the Senate - Received from the House May 5, 1999;
 1-3     May 6, 1999, read first time and referred to Committee on State
 1-4     Affairs; May 14, 1999, reported favorably by the following vote:
 1-5     Yeas 8, Nays 0; May 14, 1999, sent to printer.)
 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-7                                   AN ACT
 1-8     relating to the appointment of election judges for county
 1-9     elections.
1-10           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-11           SECTION 1.  Section 32.002, Election Code, is amended to read
1-12     as follows:
1-13           Sec. 32.002.  JUDGES FOR COUNTY ELECTION.  (a)  The
1-14     commissioners court at its July term shall appoint the election
1-15     judges for each regular county election precinct.
1-16           (b)  Judges appointed under Subsection (a) serve for a term
1-17     of one year beginning on August 1 following the appointment, except
1-18     that the commissioners court by order recorded in its minutes may
1-19     provide for a term of two years.
1-20           (c)  The presiding judge and alternate presiding judge must
1-21     be affiliated or aligned with different political parties, subject
1-22     to this subsection.  Before July of each year, the county chair of
1-23     a political party whose candidate for governor received the highest
1-24     or second highest number of votes in the county in the most recent
1-25     gubernatorial general election shall submit in writing to the
1-26     commissioners court a list of names of persons in order of
1-27     preference for each precinct who are eligible for appointment as an
1-28     election judge.  The commissioners court shall appoint the first
1-29     person meeting the applicable eligibility requirements from the
1-30     list submitted in compliance with this subsection by the party with
1-31     the highest number of votes in the precinct as the presiding judge
1-32     and the first person meeting the applicable eligibility
1-33     requirements from the list submitted in compliance with this
1-34     subsection by the party with the second highest number of votes in
1-35     the precinct as the alternate presiding judge.  The commissioners
1-36     court may reject the list if the persons whose names are submitted
1-37     on the list are determined not to meet the applicable eligibility
1-38     requirements.
1-39           (d)  The county clerk shall submit to the commissioners court
1-40     a list of names of persons eligible for appointment as presiding
1-41     judge and alternate presiding judge for each precinct in which an
1-42     appointment is not made under Subsection (c).  The [If the list is
1-43     rejected, the appointment shall be made for the full term in
1-44     accordance with the same procedures provided for the filling of
1-45     vacancies under Subsection (d) based on the time of the rejection
1-46     instead of the time that a vacancy occurs.  If a list of names is
1-47     not submitted in compliance with this subsection, the]
1-48     commissioners court shall appoint an eligible person from the list
1-49     who is affiliated or aligned with the appropriate party, if
1-50     available.
1-51           (e) [(d)]  The commissioners court shall fill a vacancy in
1-52     the position of election judge for the remainder of the unexpired
1-53     term.  An appointment to fill a vacancy may be made at any regular
1-54     or special term of court.  Not later than 48 hours after the county
1-55     clerk becomes aware of a vacancy, the county clerk shall notify the
1-56     county chair of the same political party with which the original
1-57     judge was affiliated or aligned of the vacancy.  Not later than the
1-58     fifth day after the date of notification of the vacancy, the county
1-59     chair of the same political party with which the original judge was
1-60     affiliated or aligned shall submit to the commissioners court in
1-61     writing the name of a person who is eligible for the appointment.
1-62     If a name is submitted in compliance with this subsection, the
1-63     commissioners court shall appoint that person to the unexpired
1-64     term.  If a name is not submitted in compliance with this
 2-1     subsection, the county clerk shall submit to the commissioners
 2-2     court a list of names of persons eligible as an appointee for the
 2-3     unexpired term.  The [the] commissioners court shall appoint an
 2-4     eligible person from the list who is affiliated or aligned with the
 2-5     same party, if available.
 2-6           (f) [(e)]  Subject to Section 32.003, the judges appointed
 2-7     under this section shall serve in each election ordered by the
 2-8     governor or a county authority in which the regular county election
 2-9     precincts are required to be used.
2-10           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
2-11           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-12     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-13     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-14     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-15     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
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