HBA-DMH C.S.H.B. 2692 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisC.S.H.B. 2692 By: Madden Elections 4/16/2001 Committee Report (Substituted) BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Under current law, absentee ballots may be disqualified because of an unintentional error made by a voter when completing balloting materials. Because absentee ballots are sometimes received from overseas there may be little time to clarify a minor error that may cause a vote to be disqualified. If ballots were distributed earlier and early voting clerks were encouraged to notify a voter that the voter's application includes a defect, fewer votes might be disqualified. C.S.H.B. 2692 modifies an early voting clerk's duties for receiving and processing ballots by carrier envelope. 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 C.S.H.B. 2692 amends the Election Code require 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 55th day, rather than the 45th day, before election day. If the early voting clerk receives a timely carrier envelope on or after the seventh day and before the third day before election day that does not fully comply with the applicable early voting requirements, the bill requires the clerk to return, rather than authorizes the clerk to deliver, 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 and before the third 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. If the clerk receives a timely carrier envelope on or after the third day before election day, the clerk is not required to, but is encouraged to, if possible, 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. The bill sets forth required duties of an early voting clerk relating to the notification of a federal postcard applicant requesting balloting materials if the application is not valid. EFFECTIVE DATE September 1, 2001. COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE C.S.H.B. 2692 differs from the original by removing provisions relating to eligibility for early voting by mail for members of the armed forces of the United States. The substitute decreases from not earlier than the 60th day to not earlier than the 55th day before election day the date on which balloting materials for voting by mail may be mailed. The substitute modifies the time period relating to the early voting clerk's duties in relation to the receipt of a timely carrier envelope to on or after the seventh day and before the third day before election day, rather than on or after the seventh day before election day. The substitute adds that if the clerk receives a timely carrier envelope on or after the third day before election day, the clerk is not required to, but is encouraged to, if possible, 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. The substitute includes required duties of an early voting clerk relating to the notification of a federal postcard applicant requesting balloting materials if the application is not valid.