LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD Austin, Texas FISCAL NOTE, 77th Regular Session April 16, 2001 TO: Honorable Debra Danburg, Chair, House Committee on Elections FROM: John Keel, Director, Legislative Budget Board IN RE: HB1779 by Bailey (Relating to the registration of voters at a polling place and related procedures.), As Introduced ************************************************************************** * Estimated Two-year Net Impact to General Revenue Related Funds for * * HB1779, As Introduced: negative impact of $(1,053,139) through * * the biennium ending August 31, 2003. * * * * The bill would make no appropriation but could provide the legal * * basis for an appropriation of funds to implement the provisions of * * the bill. * ************************************************************************** General Revenue-Related Funds, Five-Year Impact: **************************************************** * Fiscal Year Probable Net Positive/(Negative) * * Impact to General Revenue Related * * Funds * * 2002 $(1,053,139) * * 2003 0 * * 2004 (1,053,139) * * 2005 0 * * 2006 (1,053,139) * **************************************************** All Funds, Five-Year Impact: ***************************************************** * Fiscal Year Probable Savings/(Cost) from * * General Revenue Fund * * 0001 * * 2002 $(1,053,139) * * 2003 0 * * 2004 (1,053,139) * * 2005 0 * * 2006 (1,053,139) * ***************************************************** Technology Impact None Fiscal Analysis The bill would provide for same-day registration, in which persons register to vote at the polling place. Methodology According to the Secretary of State's Office, new supplies and procedures would create additional costs to conduct the primary elections in providing additional applications. There is no way of predicting how many nonregistered voters will opt to use this procedure. Based on 2000 numbers, there were 14,479,609 voting age persons, of whom 12,365,235 were registered, leaving 2,114,374 non-registered. The Secretary of State's Office advises that polling place expenses for the primaries would include additional combination forms that would be necessary to process voters separately. Also, although it is unlikely many voters would use the "affidavit of voter's acquaintance" procedure, each polling place would need to be equipped with at least one such affidavit. If one-third of the nonregistered voters voted in a statewide primary election using 2000 numbers for combination forms (the combination form costs 25 cents (Hart Graphics) and handles 15 voters), and each primary polling place prepared "acquaintance affidavits" for that many voters, the impact would be as follows: (2,114,374 divided by 3 equals 704,791 voters) x ($.01 per voter for combination forms) equals $7,047.91. (2,114,374 divided by 3 equals 704,791 voters) x ($.01 per acquaintance affidavit) equals $7,047.91 Supplies Total = $14,095.82 Voters must be processed separately, therefore polling places will likely need additional staff. Based on a grand total of 16,813 polling places used in 2000 (10,648 primary) + (6,165 runoff), if one extra clerk is hired for a minimum of 12 hours, the impact would be: 16,813 polling places x (12 hours x $5.15/hour for 1 clerk) equals Personnel total of $1,039,043.40 $14,095.82 in supplies plus $1,039,043.40 personnel costs equals a Total of $1,053,139.20 Local Government Impact Election officials in Denton County, Travis County, Victoria County, and Bexar County, as well as representatives from the Texas Association of Election Administrators and the Texas Association of Counties were contacted regarding fiscal impact to local governments. Counties and associations contacted indicated that counties would need to hire additional staff for each election in order to implement the provisions of the bill. The counties also anticipated that election staff would have to work overtime for each election. Election officials stated that half of their election costs are staff salaries and there was general agreement that they would have to double their staff, plus provide training. Cost for doubling staff and training new employees was estimated to range from an additional $5,000 per election in Victoria County (population approximately 89,000) to an additional $500,000 per election in Harris County (population 3.2 million). Election administrators and county clerks also said there would be an additional cost of anywhere from $3,000 in small counties to $80,000 in large counties to provide additional ballots for each county-wide election. Additional costs to counties to implement the requirements in the bill would be significant, ranging from at least $8,000 to $580,000 or more per election. Source Agencies: 307 Secretary of State LBB Staff: JK, TB, SK, DB