Bill Text: TX HB658 | 2017-2018 | 85th Legislature | Enrolled

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Bill Title: Relating to voting by voters with certain disabilities or voters who reside at a residential care facility.

Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 7-2)

Status: (Passed) 2017-06-15 - Effective on 9/1/17 [HB658 Detail]

Download: Texas-2017-HB658-Enrolled.html

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H.B. No. 658

AN ACT
relating to voting by voters with certain disabilities or voters
who reside at a residential care facility.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Chapter 63, Election Code, is amended by adding
Section 63.0013 to read as follows:
Sec. 63.0013. ACCEPTING VOTERS WITH CERTAIN DISABILITIES.
(a) In this section, "mobility problem that substantially impairs a
person's ability to ambulate" has the meaning assigned by Section
681.001, Transportation Code.
(b) An election officer may accept a person with a mobility
problem that substantially impairs a person's ability to ambulate
who is offering to vote before accepting others offering to vote at
the polling place who arrived before the person.
(c) Notice of the priority given to persons with a mobility
problem that substantially impairs a person's ability to ambulate
shall be posted:
(1) at one or more locations in each polling place
where it can be read by persons waiting to vote;
(2) on the Internet website of the secretary of state;
and
(3) on each Internet website relating to elections
maintained by a county.
(d) The notice required by Subsection (c) must read:
"Pursuant to Section 63.0013, Election Code, an election officer
may give voting order priority to individuals with a mobility
problem that substantially impairs the person's ability to move
around. A person assisting an individual with a mobility problem
may also, at the individual's request, be given voting order
priority. Disabilities and conditions that may qualify you for
voting order priority include paralysis, lung disease, the use of
portable oxygen, cardiac deficiency, severe limitation in the
ability to walk due to arthritic, neurological, or orthopedic
condition, wheelchair confinement, arthritis, foot disorder, the
inability to walk 200 feet without stopping to rest, or use of a
brace, cane, crutch, or other assistive device."
(e) A person assisting a voter in accordance with Section
64.032(c) may be accepted to vote concurrently with a person
accepted under Subsection (b) of this section at the voter's
request.
SECTION 2. Section 86.003, Election Code, is amended by
amending Subsections (a) and (b) and adding Subsection (e) to read
as follows:
(a) The balloting materials for voting by mail shall be
provided to the voter by mail, unless the ballot is delivered to a
voter for early voting under Chapter 107. A ballot provided by any
other method may not be counted.
(b) Subject to Subsection (c), the balloting materials
shall be addressed to the applicable address specified in the
voter's application. The election officer providing the ballot may
not knowingly deliver [mail] the materials to an address other than
that prescribed by this section.
(e) A voter who makes an application to vote early by mail on
the grounds of age or disability requesting that the ballot be sent
to the address of a residential care facility, as defined by Chapter
107, is required to vote as provided by that chapter if five or more
applications for ballots to be voted by mail are made by residents
of the same facility who request that the ballots be sent to that
facility.
SECTION 3. Section 86.004, Election Code, is amended by
amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsection (c) to read as
follows:
(a) Except as provided by Subsection (b) or (c), the
balloting materials for voting by mail shall be mailed to a voter
entitled to vote by mail not later than the seventh calendar day
after the later of the date the clerk accepts the voter's
application for a ballot to be voted by mail or the date the ballots
become available for mailing, except that if that mailing date is
earlier than the 45th day before election day, the balloting
materials shall be mailed not later than the 38th day before
election day.
(c) An application to vote early by mail on the grounds of
age or disability requesting that the ballot be sent to the address
of a residential care facility, as defined by Chapter 107, shall be
held until the earlier of:
(1) the date on which five or more applications for
ballots to be voted by mail made by residents of the same facility
who request that the ballots be sent to that facility have been
received, in which case ballots may not be mailed to the voters and
voting shall be conducted under Chapter 107; or
(2) the last day on which an application for a ballot
to be voted by mail may be received, after which the ballot shall
promptly be mailed to the voter.
SECTION 4. Subtitle B, Title 7, Election Code, is amended by
adding Chapter 107 to read as follows:
CHAPTER 107. EARLY VOTING AT A RESIDENTIAL CARE FACILITY
Sec. 107.001. PURPOSE. This chapter is enacted to
facilitate voting in a nursing home, other long-term care facility,
or retirement center in which a significant number of occupants,
patients, or residents lack adequate transportation to an
appropriate polling place, need assistance in voting, are 65 years
of age or older or are disabled, or are indefinitely confined.
Sec. 107.002. DEFINITION. In this chapter, "residential
care facility" means a facility licensed and regulated under
Chapter 242 or 247, Health and Safety Code, with more than 10 beds.
Sec. 107.003. APPLICABILITY OF EARLY VOTING BY PERSONAL
APPEARANCE PROVISIONS. To the extent applicable and not in
conflict with this chapter, Chapter 85 applies to voting at a
residential care facility under this chapter.
Sec. 107.004. EARLY VOTING AT RESIDENTIAL CARE FACILITY
REQUIRED. (a) A voter residing in a residential care facility who
has applied to vote early by mail on the grounds of age or
disability and who requested that the ballot be sent to the address
of the facility, must vote as provided by this chapter if five or
more applications for ballots to be voted by mail were made by
residents of the same facility who requested that the ballots be
sent to the facility.
(b) If a residential care facility has fewer than five
residents qualified to vote under this chapter on January 1 of each
calendar year, the secretary of state may exempt a residential care
facility from the requirements of this chapter. For this exemption
to apply, the Department of State Health Services and the facility
director must provide written confirmation that the exemption
applies to the residential care facility. The secretary of state
shall adopt rules to implement this subsection.
Sec. 107.005. ELECTION JUDGES; QUALIFICATIONS; OATH.
(a) Additional election judges shall be selected to serve at a
residential care facility in the same manner as election judges are
selected to serve at a polling place for early voting by personal
appearance under Chapter 32. The county chair of a political party
shall indicate on the list of names of persons whether a person is
willing to serve as an election judge under this chapter.
(b) An election judge serving at a residential care facility
may be a volunteer, an employee of the authority conducting the
election, or compensated by the authority conducting the election
in the same manner as an election judge for a polling place for
early voting by personal appearance.
(c) A person may not serve as an election judge for a
residential care facility if at any time during the two years
preceding the election, the person has been employed at a
residential care facility in the county where the person seeks to
serve as an election judge.
(d) Before beginning the duties of an election judge under
this chapter, each individual appointed to serve as an election
judge at a residential care facility shall sign and date this oath:
I swear (or affirm) that I will not in any manner request or
seek to persuade or induce any voter to vote for or against any
candidate or measure to be voted on, and that I will faithfully
perform my duty as an officer of the election and guard the purity
of the election.
I have read the statutes and training materials provided and
will conduct this election accordingly.
I understand that failing to follow procedures exactly may
result in invalidation of the voter's ballot.
I will not unduly influence or pressure a person to
participate or cast a ballot in the election.
I will not influence the choice of a voter to choose a
particular primary ballot, vote in a particular race or election,
or vote on a particular proposition.
Signed this ___ day of ____, 20__.
Date: ________________________
(e) The secretary of state shall provide training for an
election judge serving under this section.
Sec. 107.006. VOTING LOCATION. (a) The administrator of
the residential care facility shall make available an area located
in a common area of the facility for the purposes of voting under
this chapter. The area shall allow a voter to cast a secret ballot.
(b) The facility administrator shall allow posting of
required notices during the period that voting is conducted under
this chapter.
(c) An election judge may enter the private room of a voter
who requests that balloting materials be brought to the voter.
Sec. 107.007. NOTICE OF ELECTION IN RESIDENTIAL CARE
FACILITY; DETERMINATION OF TIME FOR VOTING. (a) If early voting
at a residential care facility is required under this chapter, the
early voting clerk shall give notice that early voting will occur at
the facility and appoint election judges for the purpose of
conducting voting under this chapter.
(b) Not later than 5 p.m. on the sixth business day before
election day, the election judges shall, with the input of the
administrator of the residential care facility, designate one or
more times for voting to be conducted. Voting may be conducted not
earlier than the 29th day before election day and not later than the
fourth day preceding election day.
(c) Notice of the time or times for conducting the election
shall be posted at the residential care facility by the election
judge and on the appropriate county's Internet website as soon as
practicable after determining the time and not later than the fifth
day before the first day on which voting will be conducted at the
facility.
(d) The early voting clerk shall maintain a public list of
all residential care facilities in the clerk's jurisdiction at
which voting is conducted under this chapter. The list must be
available on the website of the authority conducting the election
or posted at the location where public notices are posted in the
county courthouse or authority public building, as applicable, and
for each facility state:
(1) the name of the facility;
(2) the address of the facility;
(3) the dates and times for voting at the facility; and
(4) the names of the election judges for the facility.
(e) The secretary of state with the assistance of the
Department of State Health Services shall create a list of all
residential care facilities eligible under this chapter on January
1 of each calendar year in an early voting clerk's jurisdiction.
The secretary of state shall provide the list to the early voting
clerk.
(f) At any time during the year and regardless of whether
five or more voters at a residential care facility have requested
ballots to be voted by mail, the early voting clerk may post notice
of the dates on which voting will be conducted at the facility under
this chapter for each election. If the early voting clerk posts
notice under this subsection, the names of the election judges and
the hours during which voting will be conducted must be posted at
least 48 hours before voting is conducted at the facility,
notwithstanding Subsection (c).
Sec. 107.008. CONDUCT OF ELECTION. (a) In an election
conducted under this chapter, the early voting clerk shall deliver
to the election judges for a residential care facility the
balloting materials for any qualified voters who have requested a
mail ballot for an election that would have been otherwise mailed to
the voter at the facility under Chapter 86.
(b) The election judges for a residential care facility
shall deliver the balloting materials to the voter at the facility.
(c) The voter shall mark and seal the ballot in the same
manner as a voter voting under Chapter 86.
(d) Both election judges for the residential care facility
shall sign the carrier envelope as witnesses. In the space for the
address of the witness, each election judge shall write in
"Residential Care Facility Election Judge."
(e) The election judges shall accept the carrier envelope
and place the envelope in a secure bag or ballot container for
transport to the early voting clerk's office.
(f) Ballots voted at a residential care facility shall be
processed for counting in the manner provided by Chapter 86 for a
ballot voted by mail.
Sec. 107.009. VOTING BY ADDITIONAL QUALIFIED VOTERS.
(a) The early voting clerk shall produce a list of all additional
qualified voters who reside and are registered to vote at a
residential care facility where voting is conducted under this
chapter.
(b) The clerk shall supply the election judges for the
residential care facility with sufficient additional ballots and
voting materials to allow any additional qualified voter who
resides at the facility to vote under this chapter. During the
voting period, any registered voter who resides at the facility may
complete an application to request a mail ballot as if they were
voting by mail. An election judge for the facility shall serve as a
witness for any person who is unable to sign their name and may
witness multiple applications.
(c) An election judge for the residential care facility must
accept a properly completed application for a ballot made under
this section, and shall provide a ballot to the voter. The election
judge shall make a notation on an application that it was made under
this section.
(d) A voter who applies for a ballot under this section
shall vote in the manner provided by Section 107.008, except that
the voter's ballot must be stored with the voter's application, and
the voter's ballot may not be counted if the voter was not a
qualified voter for the election as demonstrated from the
information contained in the voter's application.
(e) An election judge at the residential care facility may
assist and witness a ballot received by a voter who resides at the
facility and is not registered to vote at the facility while the
election judge is present at the facility.
(f) The secretary of state may prescribe an application for
a voter to request a ballot under Subsection (b).
Sec. 107.010. RETENTION OF RECORDS. (a) The election
judges for the residential care facility shall record the number of
ballots voted. Both of the election judges for each facility and
the early voting clerk shall sign and attest to the number of
ballots issued.
(b) On completion of voting under this chapter, the election
judges must record the number of:
(1) completed ballots;
(2) spoiled ballots; and
(3) unused returned ballots.
Sec. 107.011. PROOF OF IDENTIFICATION PRESENTED AT
RESIDENTIAL CARE FACILITY. (a) Notwithstanding Section 63.0101
or any other law, a voter voting under this chapter may submit a
statement as proof of identification signed by both election judges
for the residential care facility that:
(1) contains the name and address of the voter; and
(2) verifies that the voter is a resident of the
facility and appears on the list of registered voters.
(b) The election judges shall enclose the statement in the
carrier envelope.
Sec. 107.012. ASSISTING VOTER; NOTICE. (a) On written
request to the early voting clerk by a relative of a registered
voter in a residential care facility, the clerk may notify the
relative of the time or times at which election judges will conduct
voting at the facility. The relative may be present at the facility
while voting is conducted.
(b) A voter may receive assistance in the same manner as
provided by Subchapter B, Chapter 64.
(c) An election judge shall seal a ballot if the voter
receives assistance from a person who is not an election judge.
Sec. 107.013. SECURITY OF BALLOTS AND MATERIALS. (a) On
completion of the voting each day on which voting is conducted at a
residential care facility under this chapter, the election judges
for the facility shall seal the ballot envelopes and any absentee
ballot applications inside a secure envelope and shall seal the
envelope and sign the seal. The election judges shall place the
envelope inside a ballot bag or container.
(b) As soon as possible after conducting voting at a
residential care facility, but not later than 18 hours after
leaving the facility, the election judges shall deliver the ballot
bag or container to the early voting clerk.
Sec. 107.014. PROVISION OF MAIL BALLOT TO CERTAIN VOTERS.
(a) If a qualified voter residing at a residential care facility
and seeking to vote at the facility under this chapter is not able
to cast a ballot during any time when voting is conducted at the
facility, the election judges for the facility shall inform the
early voting clerk not later than the fourth day before election
day. The clerk shall mail the ballot to the voter not later than the
fourth day before election day.
(b) Any registered voter who did not cast a ballot at the
residential care facility may cast a ballot by:
(1) voting in person on election day; or
(2) voting by mail.
(c) An election judge shall leave a ballot package for a
voter who:
(1) requested a ballot to be voted by mail and was not
present during the scheduled time for early voting at the
residential care facility; and
(2) is expected to return to the residential care
facility before the deadline for returning a ballot by mail.
(d) If a voter who requested a ballot to be voted by mail
under this chapter is temporarily located at another location,
including by hospitalization:
(1) the early voting clerk may mail the ballot to the
voter's temporary address, if known; or
(2) the election judge may personally deliver the
ballot package to the voter's temporary address, if known.
(e) If an election judge personally delivers a ballot
package under Subsection (d), the election judge may:
(1) allow the ballot to be returned by mail; or
(2) accept the marked ballot personally.
Sec. 107.015. WATCHERS. (a) In an election held under
this chapter, a watcher may observe the process of ballot
distribution in the common areas of a residential care facility in a
manner consistent with Chapter 33.
(b) A political party entitled to have the names of its
nominees placed on the general election ballot may appoint a
watcher to accompany the election judges to a residential care
facility.
(c) A political party seeking to appoint a watcher to serve
at a residential care facility shall submit the name of the watcher
to the county election officer of the county in which the facility
is located, not later than the close of business on the last
business day before the date the watcher seeks to observe the
conduct of the election under this chapter.
(d) A watcher must present the watcher's certificate of
appointment to an election judge for the residential care facility
on arrival at the facility.
(e) A watcher has access to the same areas of the
residential care facility as an election judge.
Sec. 107.016. LIMITATIONS ON APPLICABILITY OF CHAPTER.
(a) The early voting clerk is not required to send election judges
to conduct an election at a residential care facility unless there
are at least five registered voters who are residents of the
facility.
(b) This chapter does not prevent a registered voter from:
(1) voting early by personal appearance;
(2) voting on election day; or
(3) voting by mail from an address other than the
residential care facility, including from the address of a family
member designated under Section 84.002.
Sec. 107.017. RULES. The secretary of state shall adopt
rules and prescribe procedures for voting at a residential care
facility in accordance with this chapter.
SECTION 5. Subchapter A, Chapter 242, Health and Safety
Code, is amended by adding Section 242.0181 to read as follows:
Sec. 242.0181. COMPLIANCE WITH CERTAIN REQUIREMENTS
REGARDING EARLY VOTING. An institution must comply with Chapter
107, Election Code.
SECTION 6. Subchapter A, Chapter 247, Health and Safety
Code, is amended by adding Section 247.008 to read as follows:
Sec. 247.008. COMPLIANCE WITH CERTAIN REQUIREMENTS
REGARDING EARLY VOTING. An assisted living facility must comply
with Chapter 107, Election Code.
SECTION 7. Sections 242.0181 and 247.008, Health and Safety
Code, as added by this Act, apply only to a license issued or
renewed on or after the effective date of this Act. A license
issued or renewed before that date is governed by the law in effect
on the date the license was issued or renewed, and the former law is
continued in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 8. This Act takes effect September 1, 2017.
______________________________ ______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 658 was passed by the House on May 9,
2017, by the following vote: Yeas 145, Nays 0, 2 present, not
voting; and that the House concurred in Senate amendments to H.B.
No. 658 on May 24, 2017, by the following vote: Yeas 130, Nays 14,
3 present, not voting.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 658 was passed by the Senate, with
amendments, on May 22, 2017, by the following vote: Yeas 30
, Nays
0.
______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
APPROVED: __________________
Date
__________________
Governor