BILL ANALYSIS

H.B. 847

By: Aycock

Elections

Committee Report (Unamended)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

County chairs have received complaints from some election judges and clerks who sometimes cannot participate in their precinct conventions because of their responsibility to close the polls, tally the votes, and return the voting machines on primary election day.

H.B. 847 seeks to address this issue by creating an option for a precinct convention to be held on a date after the date of the general primary election.

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

H.B. 847 amends the Election Code to provide, as an alternative to holding precinct conventions in the regular county election precincts on general primary election day, that the conventions be held on a date determined by the county executive committee that occurs not later than the fifth day after the date of the general primary election.  The bill requires the committee, if the precinct conventions are held on a day other than general primary election day, to set the hour for convening or a time frame in which the conventions must convene and requires the hour and place that are set by the committee for convening each precinct convention for the precincts served by the committee, or by the county chair if the executive committee fails to do so, to be consistent with those time frame requirements. The bill includes the date of each precinct convention in the information that must be provided in the notice a county chair is required to post on the bulletin board used for posting notices of meetings of the county commissioners court and in the written notice the county chair is required to deliver to the county clerk relating to the convening of each precinct convention. The bill makes conforming and nonsubstantive changes.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2011.