By: Bonnen of Galveston, et al. H.B. No. 1888
        (Senate Sponsor - Huffman)
         (In the Senate - Received from the House May 8, 2019;
  May 10, 2019, read first time and referred to Committee on State
  Affairs; May 19, 2019, reported favorably by the following vote:  
  Yeas 7, Nays 2; May 19, 2019, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
 
  relating to temporary branch polling place hours of operation.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  The heading to Section 42.0621, Election Code,
  is amended to read as follows:
         Sec. 42.0621.  PRECINCTS FOR ELECTIONS HELD ON NOVEMBER [A]
  UNIFORM ELECTION DATE.
         SECTION 2.  Section 42.0621(a), Election Code, is amended to
  read as follows:
         (a)  In an election held on the November [a] uniform election
  date, the political subdivisions to which Section 42.002(a)(5)
  applies shall use the regular county election precincts.
         SECTION 3.  Section 85.062(e), Election Code, is amended to
  read as follows:
         (e)  In an election covered by Subsection (d), a temporary
  branch polling place that is located in a movable structure may be
  established only with the approval of the county clerk. If a
  [movable] temporary branch polling place is established in a
  movable structure on the request of a political party, each other
  political party whose nominee for governor in the most recent
  gubernatorial general election received more than 10 percent of the
  total number of votes received by all candidates for governor in the
  election is entitled to establishment of such a polling place. The
  election officers serving a polling place covered by this
  subsection must be affiliated or aligned with different political
  parties to the extent possible. The secretary of state, after
  consulting the state chair of each affected political party, shall
  prescribe the procedures necessary to implement this subsection.
         SECTION 4.  The heading to Section 85.064, Election Code, is
  amended to read as follows:
         Sec. 85.064.  DAYS AND HOURS FOR VOTING: TEMPORARY BRANCH
  [IN POPULOUS COUNTY].
         SECTION 5.  Section 85.064(b), Election Code, is amended to
  read as follows:
         (b)   Early voting by personal appearance at each temporary
  branch polling place [established under Section 85.062(d)] shall be
  conducted on the days that voting is required to be conducted at the
  main early voting polling place under Section 85.005 and remain
  open for at least:
               (1)  eight hours each day; or
               (2)  three hours each day if the city or county clerk
  does not serve as the early voting clerk for the territory holding
  the election and the territory has fewer than 1,000 registered
  voters.  [The authority establishing the temporary branch polling
  place shall determine the hours during which the voting is to be
  conducted on those days. The authority shall order voting to be
  conducted for the same number of hours that voting is required to be
  conducted on those days at the main early voting polling place under
  Section 85.005 on receipt of a written request for those hours
  submitted by at least 15 registered voters of the county. The
  request must be submitted in time to enable compliance with Section
  85.067.]
         SECTION 6.  Section 85.068(a), Election Code, is amended to
  read as follows:
         (a)  The early voting clerk shall post notice for each
  election stating any dates and the hours that voting on Saturday or
  Sunday will be conducted under Section 85.064(d) [or 85.065(b)], if
  the early voting clerk is a county clerk or city secretary under
  Section 83.002 or 83.005.
         SECTION 7.  The following provisions of the Election Code
  are repealed:
               (1)  Section 42.002(c);
               (2)  Sections 85.064(a) and (c); and
               (3)  Section 85.065.
         SECTION 8.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2019.
 
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