BILL ANALYSIS

Senate Research Center                                                                                                     H.B. 2759

79R12270 JRJ-D                                                                                     By: Taylor (Jackson, Mike)

State Affairs

5/17/2005

Engrossed

AUTHOR'S/SPONSOR'S STATEMENT OF INTENT

Under current law, most precincts in a county must contain between 100 and 2,000 registered voters.  The Election Code provides exceptions to the maximum population for counties that have adopted a voting system, meaning ballots are cast using a method other than traditional paper ballots.  For the smallest of these counties, the law allows precincts to contain as many as 5,000 registered voters.  The largest counties, however, are still restricted from having precincts larger than 3,000 registered voters, even though it is in these fast growing, urban areas, that having smaller precincts means a potentially unmanageable number of precincts.  More precincts means more election workers and a greater burden on the election officials who administer the process. 

H.B. 2759 provides a maximum population per precinct of 5,000 registered voters in all counties that have adopted a voting system.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

This bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, institution, or agency.

SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS

SECTION 1.  Amends Section 42.006(d), Election Code, to provide that in a county in which a voting system has been adopted for use in the general election for state and county officers, the maximum number of registered voters a precinct may contain is 5,000, rather than the previous guidelines based on the county's population.

SECTION 2.  Effective date: September 1, 2005.