87R8447 BRG-D
 
  By: Patterson H.B. No. 2293
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to the hours for voting during the early voting period.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Sections 85.005(a) and (b), Election Code, are
  amended to read as follows:
         (a)  Except as provided by Subsection (c), in an election in
  which a county clerk or city secretary is the early voting clerk
  under Section 83.002 or 83.005, early voting by personal appearance
  at the main early voting polling place shall be conducted on the
  weekdays of the early voting period and during the hours that the
  county clerk's or city secretary's main business office is
  regularly open for business, except that voting may not be
  conducted earlier than 6 a.m. or later than 9 p.m.[.]
         (b)  In an election to which Subsection (a) does not apply,
  early voting by personal appearance at the main early voting
  polling place shall be conducted at least eight hours each weekday
  of the early voting period that is not a legal state holiday unless
  the territory covered by the election has fewer than 1,000
  registered voters. In that case, the voting shall be conducted at
  least three hours each day. The authority ordering the election, or
  the county clerk if that person is the early voting clerk, shall
  determine which hours the voting is to be conducted except that
  voting may not be conducted earlier than 6 a.m. or later than 9
  p.m.[.]
         SECTION 2.  Section 85.006(c), Election Code, is amended to
  read as follows:
         (c)  The authority ordering voting on a Saturday or Sunday
  shall determine the hours during which voting is to be conducted
  except that voting may not be conducted earlier than 6 a.m. or later
  than 9 p.m.[.]
         SECTION 3.  Section 85.010(c), Election Code, is amended to
  read as follows:
         (c)  A shared polling place established under Subsection (b)
  that is designated as a main early voting polling place by any
  political subdivision:
               (1)  must be open for voting for all political
  subdivisions the polling place serves for at least the days and
  hours required of a main early voting polling place under Section
  85.002 for the political subdivision making the designation; and
               (2)  may not be open for voting earlier than 6 a.m. or
  later than 9 p.m.[.]
         SECTION 4.  Section 85.064, Election Code, is amended by
  adding Subsection (c) to read as follows:
         (c)  Early voting by personal appearance at a temporary
  branch polling place may not be conducted earlier than 6 a.m. or
  later than 9 p.m.
         SECTION 5.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2021.