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.