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  By: Bucy, et al. (Senate Sponsor - Hughes , Hall) H.B. No. 1382
         (In the Senate - Received from the House May 3, 2021;
  May 4, 2021, read first time and referred to Committee on State
  Affairs; May 14, 2021, reported favorably by the following vote:  
  Yeas 9, Nays 0; May 14, 2021, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
 
  relating to the availability of certain information regarding early
  voting.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Chapter 86, Election Code, is amended by adding
  Section 86.015 to read as follows:
         Sec. 86.015.  ELECTRONIC TRACKING OF APPLICATION FOR BALLOT
  VOTED BY MAIL OR BALLOT VOTED BY MAIL. (a) The secretary of state
  shall develop or otherwise provide an online tool to each early
  voting clerk that enables a person who submits an application for a
  ballot to be voted by mail to track the location and status of the
  person's application and ballot on the secretary's Internet website
  and on the county's Internet website if the early voting clerk is
  the county clerk of a county that maintains an Internet website.
         (b)  The online tool developed or provided under Subsection
  (a) must require the voter to provide, before permitting the voter
  to access information described by that subsection:
               (1)  the voter's name and registration address and the
  last four digits of the voter's social security number; and
               (2)  the voter's:
                     (A)  driver's license number; or
                     (B)  personal identification card number issued
  by the Department of Public Safety.
         (c)  An online tool used under this section must update the
  applicable Internet website as soon as practicable after each of
  the following events occurs:
               (1)  receipt by the early voting clerk of the person's
  application for a ballot to be voted by mail;
               (2)  acceptance or rejection by the early voting clerk
  of the person's application for a ballot to be voted by mail;
               (3)  placement in the mail by the early voting clerk of
  the person's official ballot;
               (4)  receipt by the early voting clerk of the person's
  marked ballot; and
               (5)  acceptance or rejection by the early voting ballot
  board of a person's marked ballot.
         (d)  The secretary of state shall adopt rules and prescribe
  procedures as necessary to implement this section.
         (e)  The information contained in Subsection (c) is not
  public information for purposes of Chapter 552, Government Code,
  until after election day.
         SECTION 2.  Section 87.121, Election Code, as amended by
  Chapters 1083 (H.B. 1850) and 1215 (S.B. 902), Acts of the 86th
  Legislature, Regular Session, 2019, is reenacted and amended to
  read as follows:
         Sec. 87.121.  EARLY VOTING ROSTERS. (a) The early voting
  clerk shall maintain for each election a roster listing each person
  who votes an early voting ballot by personal appearance and a roster
  listing each person to whom an early voting ballot to be voted by
  mail is sent.
         (b)  For each person listed, the applicable roster must
  include:
               (1)  the person's name, address, and voter registration
  number;
               (2)  an identification of the person's county election
  precinct of registration; and
               (3)  the date of voting or the date the ballot was
  mailed to the person, as applicable.
         (c)  Each roster shall be updated daily.
         (d)  Each roster may be maintained in any form approved by
  the secretary of state.
         (e)  The clerk shall preserve each roster after the election
  for the period for preserving the precinct election records.
         (f)  Information on the roster for a person to whom an early
  voting mail ballot has been sent is not available for public
  inspection, except to the voter seeking to verify that the
  information pertaining to the voter is accurate, until the first
  business day after election day.
         (g)  Information on the roster for a person who votes an
  early voting ballot by personal appearance shall be made available
  for public inspection as provided by Subsection (i) not later than
  11 a.m. on the day after the date the information is entered on the
  roster under Subsection (c).
         (h)  Information on the roster for a person who votes an
  early voting ballot by mail shall be made available for public
  inspection as provided by Subsection (i) not later than 11 a.m. on
  the day following the day the early voting clerk receives any [a]
  ballot voted by mail.
         (i)  The information under Subsections (g) and (h) must be
  made available:
               (1)  for an election in which the county clerk is the
  early voting clerk:
                     (A)  on the publicly accessible Internet website
  of the county; or
                     (B)  if the county does not maintain a website, on
  the bulletin board used for posting notice of meetings of the
  commissioners court; or
               (2)  for an election not described by Subdivision (1):
                     (A)  on the publicly accessible Internet website
  of the authority ordering the election; or
                     (B)  if the authority ordering the election does
  not maintain a website, on the bulletin board used for posting
  notice of meetings of the governing body of the authority.
         (j) [(i)]  The early voting clerk for a primary election or
  the general election for state and county officers shall submit to
  the secretary of state for posting on the secretary of state's
  Internet website the information described by:
               (1)  Subsection (g) not later than 11 a.m. on the day
  after the date the information is entered on the roster under
  Subsection (c); and
               (2)  Subsection (h) not later than 11 a.m. on the day
  following the day the early voting clerk receives any [a] ballot
  voted by mail.
         (k)  The early voting clerk for a primary election or the
  general election for state and county officers shall submit to the
  secretary of state for posting on the secretary of state's Internet
  website the election day information described by Subsections (g)
  and (h) not later than 11 a.m. on the day after the election.
         (l)  The early voting clerk for a primary election or the
  general election for state and county officers shall submit to the
  secretary of state for posting on the secretary of state's Internet
  website the final rosters containing information described by
  Subsections (g) and (h) not later than the 20th day after the date
  of the local canvass.
         (m) [(j)]  The secretary of state shall [make any early
  voting roster created under this section available to the public on
  the secretary's Internet website.
         [(j)  The secretary of state shall] post the information
  described by Subsection (j) [(i)] on the secretary of state's
  Internet website in a downloadable format not later than 11 a.m. on
  the day following the day of receipt of the information.
         (n) [(k)]  The secretary of state shall create a system for
  an early voting clerk for a primary election or the general election
  for state and county officers to provide the information to the
  secretary of state for posting on the secretary of state's Internet
  website under Subsection (j) [(i)].
         SECTION 3.  To the extent of any conflict, this Act prevails
  over another Act of the 87th Legislature, Regular Session, 2021,
  relating to nonsubstantive additions to and corrections in enacted
  codes.
         SECTION 4.  The changes in law made by Section 1 of this Act
  apply beginning with an application for a ballot to be voted by mail
  for an election held on or after January 1, 2022.
         SECTION 5.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2021.
 
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