AUTHOR'S / SPONSOR'S STATEMENT OF INTENT

 

Legislation from last session allowed voters aged 65 and older and those who are disabled to make one application to vote by mail each year and have that application apply to all elections conducted in that calendar year where the county clerk or elections administrator serves as the early voting clerk.

 

When the voter votes in person at either early voting or on Election Day all future mail ballots are cancelled automatically.  This leads to unintended consequences in certain election cycles.  If a voter votes in the May spring election in person, the primary runoff mail ballot already in circulation is cancelled by operation of the law, which in most cases was unintended.

 

We would like to see the cancellation of future mail ballots in the same calendar year cancelled only as the result of affirmative action by the voter by use of a cancellation form.

 

S.B.1034 allows voters with annual ballot by mail application on file the option to cancel the mail in ballot for a particular election without cancelling the entire application, or cancel the annual application entirely.

 

As proposed, S.B. 1034 amends current law relating to the applicability of canceling an annual application for a ballot to be voted by mail to subsequent elections.

 

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 Subchapter B, Chapter 84, Election Code, by adding Section 84.038, as follows:

 

Sec. 84.038. CANCELLATION EFFECTIVE FOR SINGLE ELECTION FOR CERTAIN VOTERS. Provides that the cancellation of an application for a ballot to be voted by mail under Section 84.032(c) (authorizing an applicant to submit a request after the close of early voting by personal appearance by appearing in person and returning the ballot to be voted by mail to the early voting clerk or executing an affidavit that the applicant has not received the ballot to be voted by mail), (d) (authorizing an applicant to submit a request by appearing in person and returning the ballot to be voted by mail or presenting a certain notice), or (e) (authorizing an applicant to submit a request at any time after early voting ballot is returned to the early voting clerk as a marked ballot and before the ballot is delivered to the early voting ballot board by appearing in person and executing an affidavit that the applicant did not mark the ballot) does not cancel the application with respect to a subsequent election to which the same application applies under Section 86.0015(b) (providing that a certain application is considered to be an application for a ballot for each election in which the county clerk serves as early voting clerk and in which the applicant is eligible to vote and that occurs before the earlier of the end of the calendar year in which the application was submitted or the date the county clerk receives notice from the voter registrar that the voter has submitted a change in registration information).

 

SECTION 2. Effective date: upon passage or September 1, 2015.