BILL ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 521

By: Guillen

Elections

Committee Report (Substituted)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Texas law requires polling places to provide reasonable accommodations for voters with disabilities, including curbside voting. However, the bill author has informed the committee that concerns have been raised about the consistency of these accommodations, the potential misuse of curbside voting, and the need for additional safeguards against election fraud related to voter assistance. C.S.H.B. 521 seeks to strengthen curbside voting procedures by discouraging electioneering near curbside voting spaces, enhancing transparency regarding curbside voting, and creating an offense for failing to comply with certain reporting requirements.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT

It is the committee's opinion that this bill expressly does one or more of the following: creates a criminal offense, increases the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or changes the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that rulemaking authority is expressly granted to the secretary of state in SECTION 2 of this bill.

ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 521 amends the Election Code to expand the conduct that constitutes the offenses of electioneering and electioneering and loitering near a polling place to include engaging in prohibited conduct within 20 feet of a parking space designated for curbside voting for voters who are physically unable to enter a polling place. The bill includes among the requirements of a sign which must mark the area designated for such curbside voting a requirement for the sign to display, in large font that is clearly readable from a vehicle, that electioneering is prohibited within 20 feet of the parking space.

C.S.H.B. 521 prohibits an election officer who delivers a ballot at a polling place entrance or curb to a voter who is physically unable to enter the polling place without personal assistance or likelihood of injuring the voter's health from providing assistance in marking the ballot, except as provided by statutory provisions relating to assisting a voter. If four or more election officers are present at the polling place, two election officers must deliver a ballot to such a voter at the polling place entrance or curb.

C.S.H.B. 521 requires a voter, before an election officer may deliver the ballot to the voter who is physically unable to enter the poling place without personal assistance or likelihood of injuring the voter's health, to complete and sign a form, provided by the officer, swearing or affirming that the person is physically unable to enter the polling place without personal assistance or likelihood of injuring the person's health, or is requesting a reasonable accommodation, and therefore is requesting to vote outside the polling place. The bill requires such a completed form to be delivered to the secretary of state as soon as practicable and includes the form among the forms the secretary of state is required to retain for the period for preserving the precinct election records and make available to the attorney general for inspection upon request.

C.S.H.B. 521 revises the applicability of the requirement for a person who assists seven or more voters who are physically unable to enter a polling place by providing the voters with transportation to the polling place to complete and sign a form containing the person's name, address, and whether the person is providing the assistance solely under provisions governing when such a voter is unable to enter a polling place or under both those provisions and provisions relating to assisting a voter as follows:

·removes the condition that such assistance is provided to the voters simultaneously; and

·makes the requirement applicable instead to assistance provided during the early voting period and on election day.

The bill creates a Class A misdemeanor offense for a person who knowingly fails to complete that form. With respect to that form and the form swearing or affirming a person's inability to enter the polling place, the bill does the following:

·requires the secretary of state to prescribe both forms;

·requires the secretary of state to also prescribe the processes associated with the forms; and

·requires the secretary of state to adopt rules necessary to implement provisions relating to a voter unable to enter the polling place.

C.S.H.B. 521 makes the existing requirement for a person who assists a voter in accordance with statutory provisions governing voting procedures to fill out the requisite form applicable also to an election officer providing such assistance. The bill requires a county clerk, not later than the 30th day after the date of an election, to report to the secretary of state information regarding any individual who assisted a total of seven or more voters during the early voting period and on election day.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2025.

COMPARISON OF INTRODUCED AND SUBSTITUTE

While C.S.H.B. 521 may differ from the introduced in minor or nonsubstantive ways, the following summarizes the substantial differences between the introduced and committee substitute versions of the bill.

The substitute includes the following provisions that were not in the introduced:

·expanding the conduct that constitutes electioneering and loitering near a polling place to include engaging in prohibited conduct within 20 feet of a parking space designated for curbside voting for voters who are physically unable to enter a polling place;

·requiring a sign which must mark the area designated for such curbside voting to display, in large font that is clearly readable from a vehicle, that electioneering is prohibited within 20 feet of the parking space;

·requiring two election officers to deliver a ballot to a voter at a polling place entrance or curb if four or more election officers are present at the polling place; and

·requiring a county clerk, not later than the 30th day after the date of an election, to report to the secretary of state information regarding any individual who assisted a total of seven or more voters during the early voting period and on election day.

The introduced required a voter who has requested delivery of a ballot under provisions relating to a voter who is physically unable to enter a polling place, prior to the delivery, to take an oath affirming the request and the voter's physical inability and sign a form acknowledging the oath, whereas the substitute requires such a voter, before an election officer may deliver the ballot, to complete and sign a form, provided by the officer, swearing or affirming the voter's physical inability, or that the voter is requesting a reasonable accommodation, and therefore that the voter is requesting to vote outside the polling place.

Both the introduced and the substitute require the secretary of state to prescribe the required forms required by provisions relating to voters who are physically unable to enter a polling place. However, the substitute includes requirements absent from the introduced for the secretary of state to prescribe the process required by those provisions and to adopt rules as necessary to implement those provisions.

The substitute revises provisions of the introduced which created a Class A misdemeanor offense for a person who knowingly fails to complete the required form for a voter who is physically unable to enter a polling place or the required form for a person who assists seven or more such voters by providing the voters with transportation to the polling place by limiting the applicability of the offense to a person who knowingly fails to complete the latter form.

With respect to the required form for a person who assists a voter, the substitute omits the provisions from the introduced that did the following:

·included among the required contents of the form a statement regarding whether the person assisted seven or more voters in marking or reading a ballot during the early voting period and on election day;

·required the form to be delivered to the secretary of state as soon as practicable and required the secretary of state to retain the form for the period for preserving the precinct election records and to make the form available to the attorney general for inspection upon request; and

·created a Class A misdemeanor offense for a person who knowingly fails to complete the form.

The substitute omits a provision of the introduced which created a Class A misdemeanor offense for an election officer who knowingly provides assistance to a voter in violation of the following:

·the requirement for two election officers to provide assistance in marking a ballot on the voter's request for assistance unless the voter requests assistance from another qualified person; and

·the requirement for each election officer assisting a voter in the general election for state and county officers to be aligned with a different political party unless there are not two or more election officers serving the polling place who are aligned with different parties.