HBA-TBM H.B. 2924 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 2924 By: Jones, Jesse Elections 3/19/2001 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Currently, the Election Code requires that ballots be sorted by the manager of a central counting station before counting to determine whether the ballots can be counted automatically. The recent presidential election difficulties have raised concerns over the accuracy of the automatic counting of ballots. These concerns may be alleviated by initiating more stringent voting procedures such as a retooled pre-tabulation review. House Bill 2924 requires a counting station manager to examine ballots to detect irregularly marked ballots. 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 2924 amends the Election Code to require the manager of a central counting station to have the ballots examined to detect any irregularly marked ballots and to determine if the ballots to be counted automatically are ready for counting and can be properly counted. The manager is required to have each irregularly marked ballot duplicated to indicate the intent of the voter if the voter's intent is clearly ascertainable, unless other law prohibits counting the vote. After making the appropriate determinations and taking appropriate actions, the bill requires the manager to approve the ballots for counting. EFFECTIVE DATE September 1, 2001.