Honorable Briscoe Cain, Chair, House Committee on Elections
FROM:
Jerry McGinty, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
HB3276 by Parker (relating to the security of voted ballots.), Committee Report 1st House, Substituted
No significant fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.
The bill would amend the Election Code to require the posting of a licensed peace officer to protect the ballot boxes containing voted ballots from the time the polls close or the last voter has voted, whichever is later, until the canvass of precinct election returns. The bill would also require the general custodian of election records to implement a video surveillance system that retains a record of all areas containing voted ballots during the same time period. The bill provides that the video would be a precinct election record and would require the general custodian of election records to provide
a live video stream of any election activity recorded by the video surveillance system on the Internet website of the authority
administering the election.
It is assumed that any related costs could be absorbed using existing resources.
Local Government Impact
The election administrator for Fort Bend County anticipates a minimum hardware cost of $125,000 to provide and simulcast video feeds and an indeterminate production cost associated with streaming the video.
The election administrator for Cameron County anticipates a cost to the county of $40,000 to $80,000 per election or $120,000 to $240,000 a year during a primary year with a presidential election. Cameron County also anticipates the need for additional personnel to implement the bill's provisions: a full-time position at an annual cost of $50,000 for computer support; $5,000 for temporary personnel for each election; and $15,000 for temporary personnel in a presidential election year.
The election administrator for Williamson County anticipates an initial impact of $200,000 and an annual cost of $20,000 subsequent to the initial impact to implement the bill's provisions.