HBA-CMT, JEK H.B. 2457 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 2457 By: Gray Elections 4/3/2001 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Currently, procedures used by signature verification committees of early voting ballot boards may result in rejected ballots. These procedures may allow committees to reject ballots based on a partisan basis or may not allow voters time to correct any discrepancies in their ballots, resulting in confusion and disenfranchisement of the voting public. House Bill 2457 requires subcommittees of the signature verification committee to be balanced as equally as possible between the political parties and to immediately notify a voter by telephone and allow the voter to appear before the committee to establish the validity of the voter's signature on both the carrier envelope and the ballot application. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution. ANALYSIS House Bill 2457 amends the Election Code to authorize the chair of a voting signature verification committee (committee) to designate subcommittees of the committee members to compare signatures if the chair determines that the ballots are so numerous that the full committee cannot review each carrier envelope certificate and ballot application independently. The bill provides that in an election in which party alignment is indicated on the ballot, the subcommittees must be balanced as equally as possible by members of each political party required to nominate candidates by primary election. If the committee suspects that the signatures on the carrier envelope certificate and ballot application do not match, the bill requires the committee to immediately notify a voter by telephone and advise the voter that the voter may appear before the committee and submit evidence, including testimony, to establish that the voter signed both the carrier envelope and the ballot application. If the committee determines that the signatures do not match, the early voting ballot board is required to review that determination. EFFECTIVE DATE September 1, 2001.