HBA-DMH H.B. 2692 77(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 2692
By: Madden
Elections
4/3/2001
Introduced



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Under current law, service men and women deployed overseas have the
opportunity to vote by absentee ballot.  Sometimes, a sudden decision to
relocate troops stateside or overseas, whether due to an unexpected
emergency or an international crisis, breaks troops from the standard
rotation process normally implemented by the military. House Bill 2692
clarifies absentee ballot voting procedures for deployed military personnel
and modifies the early voting clerk's duties in relation to receiving
ballots by carrier envelopes. 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does
not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state
officer, department, agency, or institution. 

ANALYSIS

House Bill 2692 amends the Election Code to provide that a qualified voter
who is a member of the armed forces of the United States, including the
armed forces reserve and the national guard, is eligible for early voting
by mail if the voter expects to be absent from the county of the voter's
residence because of a military deployment on election day and during the
regular hours for conducting early voting at the main early voting polling
place for the period for early voting by personal appearance.  The bill
requires balloting materials for voting by mail to be mailed to voters as
soon as practicable after the ballots become available but not earlier than
the 60th day, rather than the 45th day, before election day. 

If the early voting clerk receives a timely carrier envelope before the
seventh day before election day that does not fully comply with the
applicable early voting requirements, the bill requires, rather than
authorizes, the clerk to return the carrier envelope by mail to the voter
not later than the second day after the date the envelope is received. If
the clerk receives a timely carrier envelope on or after the seventh day
before election day, the bill requires, rather than authorizes, the clerk,
if possible, to notify the voter of the defect by telephone and advise the
voter that the voter may come to the clerk's office in person to correct
the defect or cancel the voter's application to vote by mail and vote on
election day.  

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2001.