S.B. 196 78(R) BILL ANALYSIS S.B. 196 By: Staples Elections Committee Report (Unamended) BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Under current law, a person can challenge the registration of a voter without providing any knowledge of the person being challenged. Likewise, they can challenge the voter without giving a specific qualification for registration that the challenged voter has not met based on personal knowledge. This allows many voters to be disqualified from voting without any real evidence or demonstrated personal knowledge of a violation. This also allows groups of voters to be disqualified without being individually named in the challenge. Senate Bill 196 institutes procedures to ensure that a voter's right to vote is only challenged with just cause. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution. ANALYSIS Senate Bill 196 amends the Election Code by providing that the sworn statement of the grounds for the challenge of a voter's registration must identify the voter whose registration is being challenged and state a specific qualification for registration that the challenged voter has not met based on the personal knowledge of the voter desiring to challenge the registration. EFFECTIVE DATE September 1, 2003.