Bill Text: TX HB439 | 2025-2026 | 89th Legislature | Introduced


Bill Title: Relating to maintaining certain voter registration information and reviewing ballots voted by mail; creating criminal offenses.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2024-11-12 - Filed [HB439 Detail]

Download: Texas-2025-HB439-Introduced.html
 
 
  By: Swanson H.B. No. 439
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to maintaining certain voter registration information and
  reviewing ballots voted by mail; creating criminal offenses.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Subchapter A, Chapter 18, Election Code, is
  amended by adding Section 18.0045 to read as follows:
         Sec. 18.0045.  RECORD OF VOTERS REMOVED FROM LIST. (a) The
  registrar shall retain the voter registration application of any
  person whose name is removed from a list of registered voters
  prepared under this subchapter.
         (b)  If voter registration information was recorded on an
  optional storage method under Section 13.104, the information may
  be substituted for the retained registration application under
  Subsection (a).
         (c)  All information and records held by the registrar under
  this section, other than information described as confidential
  under Section 13.004, are open records for the purposes of Chapter
  552, Government Code.
         (d)  A registrar commits an offense if the registrar
  knowingly fails to comply with a requirement under this section.  An
  offense under this section is a Class A misdemeanor.
         (e)  The registrar may use funds dedicated under Chapter 19
  for the purpose of defraying costs associated with complying with
  this section.
         (f)  The Secretary of State shall make a copy of any list
  prepared under this subchapter available on the Secretary's
  publicly accessible Internet website in a searchable, sortable, and
  downloadable database format.
         SECTION 2.  Subchapter A, Chapter 18, Election Code, is
  amended by adding Section 18.0085 to read as follows:
         Sec. 18.0085.  DATABASE OF LISTS AVAILABLE ON COUNTY
  WEBSITE.  (a)  The registrar shall make a copy of any list prepared
  under this subchapter available on the county's publicly accessible
  Internet website in a searchable, sortable, and downloadable
  database format.
         (b)  The registrar may use funds dedicated under Chapter 19
  for the purpose of defraying costs associated with developing and
  maintaining the database prescribed by this section.
         (c)  A registrar commits an offense if the registrar
  knowingly fails to comply with the requirements under Subsection
  (a).  An offense under this section is a Class A misdemeanor.
         SECTION 3.  Sections 87.027(i) and (j), Election Code, are
  amended to read as follows:
         (i)  The signature verification committee shall compare the
  signature on each carrier envelope certificate, except those signed
  for a voter by a witness, with the signature on the voter's ballot
  application to determine whether the signatures are those of the
  voter. The committee shall [may] also compare the signatures with
  any known signature of the voter on file with the county clerk or
  voter registrar to determine whether the signatures are those of
  the voter. The committee shall also compare the information
  provided by the voter under Section 84.002(a)(1-a) on the voter's
  ballot application with the information provided by the voter under
  Section 86.002(g) and any known copies of the information on file
  with the county clerk or voter registrar. Except as provided by
  Subsection (l), a determination under this subsection that the
  signatures or provided information are not those of the voter must
  be made by a majority vote of the committee's membership. The
  committee shall place the jacket envelopes, carrier envelopes, and
  applications of voters whose signatures or provided information are
  not those of the voter in separate containers from those of voters
  whose signatures or provided information are those of the voter.
  The committee chair shall deliver the sorted materials to the early
  voting ballot board at the time specified by the board's presiding
  judge.
         (j)  If a signature verification committee is appointed, the
  early voting ballot board shall follow the same procedure for
  accepting the early voting ballots voted by mail as in an election
  without a signature verification committee, except that the board
  may not determine whether a voter's signatures on the carrier
  envelope certificate and ballot application are those of the same
  person if the committee has determined that the signatures are
  those of the same person. If the committee has determined that the
  signatures or provided information are not those of the same
  person, the board may make a determination that the signatures or
  provided information are those of the same person by a majority vote
  of the board's membership.
         SECTION 4.  Subchapter B, Chapter 87, Election Code, is
  amended by adding Section 87.0272 to read as follows:
         Sec. 87.0272.  INAPPROPRIATE ACTION BY SIGNATURE
  VERIFICATION COMMITTEE. (a) A chair of a signature verification
  committee or a chair's designee commits an offense if the chair or
  chair's designee knowingly fails to perform a requirement under
  Section 87.027(i).
         (b)  An offense under this section is a Class A misdemeanor.
         SECTION 5.  Section 87.041(b), Election Code, is amended to
  read as follows:
         (b)  A ballot may be accepted only if:
               (1)  the carrier envelope certificate is properly
  executed;
               (2)  neither the voter's signature on the ballot
  application nor the signature on the carrier envelope certificate
  is determined to have been executed by a person other than the
  voter, unless signed by a witness;
               (3)  the voter's ballot application states a legal
  ground for early voting by mail;
               (4)  the voter is registered to vote, if registration
  is required by law;
               (5)  the address to which the ballot was mailed to the
  voter, as indicated by the application, was outside the voter's
  county of residence, if the ground for early voting is absence from
  the county of residence;
               (6)  for a voter to whom a statement of residence form
  was required to be sent under Section 86.002(a), the statement of
  residence is returned in the carrier envelope and indicates that
  the voter satisfies the residence requirements prescribed by
  Section 63.0011;
               (7)  the address to which the ballot was mailed to the
  voter is an address that is otherwise required by Sections 84.002
  and 86.003; [and]
               (8)  the information required under Section 86.002(g)
  provided by the voter identifies the same voter identified on the
  voter's application for voter registration under Section
  13.002(c)(8); and
               (9)  the information provided by the voter under
  Section 84.002(a)(1-a) on the voter's ballot application is
  determined to be the same as the voter's information provided by the
  voter under Section 86.002(g) and any known copies of the
  information on file with the county clerk or voter registrar.
         SECTION 6.  Subchapter C, Chapter 87, Election Code, is
  amended by adding Section 87.0412 to read as follows:
         Sec. 87.0412.  INAPPROPRIATE ACTION BY BOARD. (a) The
  presiding judge of the early voting ballot board or a judge's
  designee commits an offense if the presiding judge or designee
  knowingly fails to perform a requirement under Section 87.041(b).
         (b)  An offense under this section is a Class A misdemeanor.
         SECTION 7.  Section 87.126, Election Code, is amended by
  adding Subsection (a-2) to read as follows:
         (a-2)  An early voting clerk who maintains only electronic
  records of applications for a ballot to be voted by mail, jacket
  envelopes, carrier envelopes, or ballots commits an offense if the
  clerk knowingly fails to record the front and back of each
  application, envelope, or ballot recorded, and provide the records
  to the early voting ballot board, the signature verification
  committee, or both. An offense under this subsection is a Class A
  misdemeanor.
         SECTION 8.  The changes in law made by this Act apply only to
  an election ordered on or after the effective date of this Act. An
  election ordered before the effective date of this Act is governed
  by the law in effect when the election was ordered, and the former
  law is continued in effect for that purpose.
         SECTION 9.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.
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