HBA-MPM H.B. 231 76(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 231 By: West, George Elections 2/10/1999 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Current law stipulates that a voter registration certificate must contain 15 specific elements, including the voter's name, date of birth, and residence address. Also included in this list of requirements is a blank space in which the primary election official, at the time the vote is cast, manually stamps the party name for which the primary election is being held. Anyone who subsequently observes the partisan stamp, even unintentionally, violates the fundamental concept of the secret ballot. H.B. 231 ends the requirement that certificates be stamped with the voter's party affiliation and instead requires them to be marked in a nonpartisan manner that the person voted in a primary election. It also prohibits an election officer from marking the certificate in a way that indicates the party's primary in which the holder cast a vote. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does not delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1. Amends Section 15.001(a), Election Code, to include on a voter registration certificate a space to indicate that a voter voted in a primary election, rather than a space to stamp the voter's political party affiliation. SECTION 2. Amends Section 162.004(b) and (c), Election Code, to prohibit an election official from indicating the name of the party conducting the primary on the registration certificate. Requires the presiding judge to issue a voter who is accepted to vote an affiliation certificate at the voter's request. Deletes language that requires the presiding judge to issue an affiliation certificate to a voter, if the voter is accepted to vote without presenting a registration certificate. Deletes language specifying that the certificate is not required to be issued to a voter in a runoff primary unless at the voter's request. Makes conforming changes. SECTION 3. Effective date: September 1, 1999. SECTION 4. Emergency clause.