86R4726 SRS-F
 
  By: González of Dallas H.B. No. 1459
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to the appointment of early voting boards, including the
  signature verification committee.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Sections 87.002(a), (b), and (d), Election Code,
  are amended to read as follows:
         (a)  The early voting ballot board consists of a presiding
  judge, an alternate presiding judge, and at least two other
  members.
         (b)  Except as provided by Subsection (d), the presiding
  judge and the alternate presiding judge are [is] appointed in the
  same manner as a presiding election judge under Section 32.002.
  Except as provided by Subsection (c), the other members are
  appointed by the presiding judge in the same manner as the precinct
  election clerks.
         (d)  In addition to the members appointed under Subsection
  (c), the county election board shall appoint the presiding judge
  from the list provided under that subsection by the political party
  whose nominee for governor received the most votes in the county in
  the most recent gubernatorial general election and the alternate
  presiding judge from the list provided under that subsection by the
  political party whose nominee for governor received the second most
  votes in the county in the most recent gubernatorial general
  election.
         SECTION 2.  Section 87.027(d), Election Code, is amended to
  read as follows:
         (d)  The early voting clerk shall determine the number of
  members who are to compose the signature verification committee and
  shall state that number in the order calling for the committee's
  appointment. A committee must consist of not fewer than five
  members. In an election in which party alignment is indicated on
  the ballot, each county chair of a political party with a nominee or
  aligned candidate on the ballot shall submit to the appointing
  authority a list of names of persons eligible to serve on the
  signature verification committee. The authority shall appoint at
  least two persons from each list to serve as members of the
  committee. The same number of members must be appointed from each
  list. The authority shall appoint the chair of the committee from
  the list provided by the political party whose nominee for governor
  received the most votes in the county in the most recent
  gubernatorial general election. The authority shall also appoint a
  vice chair of the committee from the list provided by a political
  party whose nominee for governor received the second most votes in
  the county in the most recent gubernatorial general election. A
  vacancy on the committee shall be filled by appointment from the
  original list or from a new list submitted by the appropriate county
  chair.
         SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2019.