HBA-CMT H.B. 1856 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 1856 By: Danburg Elections 7/18/2001 Enrolled BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE During the 2000 presidential election, Florida experienced problems with the use of butterfly design punchcard ballots, which confused voters and caused a recount due to problems with punch-card ballot systems. Prior to the 77th Legislature, punch-card ballot systems were used in 14 Texas counties. House Bill 1856 phases out the use of punch-card ballot systems except for purposes of early voting by mail, establishes requirements regarding the handling of voted ballots and reporting of undervotes and overvotes, and establishes procedures for the use of direct recording electronic voting machines. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that rulemaking authority is expressly delegated to the secretary of state in SECTION 12 of this bill. ANALYSIS House Bill 1856 amends the Election Code to prohibit a voting system that uses a punch-card ballot or similar form of tabulating card from being adopted for use in elections on or after September 1, 2001, except for purposes of early voting by mail. The bill prohibits a contract to acquire the equipment necessary for operating a voting system that uses a punch-card ballot or similar form of tabulating card from being executed or renewed on or after September 1, 2001 except for purposes of early voting by mail. The bill provides that the order of the punch-hole spaces and corresponding numbers for candidates and propositions on the ballot label must be in the same manner as they are to appear on a ballot under the provisions for ballot form, content, and preparation. The bill requires an election officer on election day to check each voting device and remove any punchcard ballot chads that have accumulated in the device before the polls open. The bill requires sealed ballot boxes to be used to deliver electronic system ballots from the polling place to the central counting station. The bill requires the counting station manager to have the ballots examined to detect any irregularly marked ballots and to determine whether the ballots to be counted automatically are ready for counting and can be properly counted. The bill sets forth required procedures for the manager concerning the duplicating of irregularly marked ballots. The bill provides that in an election using punch-card ballots or centrally-counted optical scan ballots, the undervotes and overvotes on the ballots are required to be tallied, tabulated, and reported by race and by election precinct in the form and manner prescribed by the secretary of state. The bill provides that an electronic voting system that is without centralized counting must require voters to deposit the ballots directly into a unit of automatic tabulating equipment. The tabulating equipment is required to be programmed to return an irregularly marked ballot to the voter. The bill sets forth procedures for the use of direct recording electronic voting machines. The bill requires the secretary of state to prescribe any procedures necessary to implement the use of direct recording electronic voting machines and to ensure the orderly and proper administration of elections using direct recording electronic voting machines. The bill requires the secretary of state to prescribe any necessary rules and take any appropriate action to implement the bill and to facilitate the orderly phasing out of the use of punch-card ballot voting systems. The bill repeals provisions of the Election Code relating to procedures preliminary to counting station processing, and the restricting of sealed ballot boxes to particular polling places. EFFECTIVE DATE September 1, 2001.