Bill Text: TX HB3594 | 2013-2014 | 83rd Legislature | Introduced

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Bill Title: Relating to certain requirements for voter registration applications and for deputy voter registrars.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2013-03-20 - Referred to Elections [HB3594 Detail]

Download: Texas-2013-HB3594-Introduced.html

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83R6819 ADM-D
By: Burnam H.B. No. 3594

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to certain requirements for voter registration
applications and for deputy voter registrars.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 13.031(d), Election Code, as amended by
Chapters 1002 (H.B. 2194) and 1164 (H.B. 2817), Acts of the 82nd
Legislature, Regular Session, 2011, is reenacted and amended to
read as follows:
(d) To be eligible for appointment as a volunteer deputy
registrar, a person must:
(1) be 18 years of age or older;
(2) not have been finally convicted of a felony or, if
so convicted, must have:
(A) fully discharged the person's sentence,
including any term of incarceration, parole, or supervision, or
completed a period of probation ordered by any court; or
(B) been pardoned or otherwise released from the
resulting disability to vote; and
[(3) meet the requirements to be a qualified voter
under Section 11.002 except that the person is not required to be a
registered voter]
(3) not have been finally convicted of an offense
under Section 32.51, Penal Code.
SECTION 2. Section 13.033, Election Code, is amended by
amending Subsection (b) and adding Subsection (e) to read as
follows:
(b) If a person is to be appointed, the registrar shall
prepare a certificate of appointment in duplicate containing:
(1) the date of appointment;
(2) the statement: "I, ____________, Voter Registrar
for ____________ County, do hereby appoint ____________ as a
volunteer deputy registrar for ____________ County.";
(3) the person's residence address;
(4) the person's voter registration number, if any;
(5) a statement that the term of the appointment
expires December 31 of an even-numbered year;
(6) a volunteer deputy registrar identification
number, verified by the secretary of state to be unique; and
(7) [(6)] a statement that the appointment terminates
on the person's final conviction for an offense for failure to
deliver a registration application and may terminate on the
registrar's determination that the person failed to adequately
review a registration application.
(e) A volunteer deputy registrar whose certificate of
appointment does not contain an identification number as required
under Subsection (b)(6) shall request a new certificate from the
registrar as soon as possible. This subsection expires December
31, 2014.
SECTION 3. Sections 13.040(a) and (c), Election Code, are
amended to read as follows:
(a) On receipt of a completed registration application, a
volunteer deputy registrar:
(1) shall, if the application is on an officially
prescribed registration application form, detach the perforated
receipt from the application form and prepare it and [prepare] a
[receipt in] duplicate on a form furnished by the registrar; and
(2) shall, if the application is not on an officially
prescribed application form, prepare a receipt in duplicate on a
form furnished by the registrar.
(c) The volunteer deputy shall sign the receipts [receipt]
in the applicant's presence, shall print the volunteer deputy's
unique identification number on the receipts, and shall give the
perforated receipt or original receipt, as appropriate, to the
applicant. A perforated receipt entitles the applicant to vote a
provisional ballot in the manner provided by Section 63.011 except
that the applicant is not required to submit the affidavit under
Section 63.011(a).
SECTION 4. Section 13.047, Election Code, is amended by
adding Subsection (c) to read as follows:
(c) Any person approved by the registrar may teach a
training course for deputy registrars.
SECTION 5. Section 13.122(a), Election Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(a) In addition to the other statements and spaces for
entering information that appear on an officially prescribed
registration application form, each official form must include:
(1) the statement: "I understand that giving false
information to procure a voter registration is perjury and a crime
under state and federal law.";
(2) a space for the applicant's registration number;
(3) a space for the applicant's Texas driver's license
number or number of a personal identification card issued by the
Department of Public Safety;
(4) a space for the applicant's telephone number;
(5) a space for the applicant's social security
number;
(6) a space for the applicant's sex;
(7) a statement indicating that the furnishing of the
applicant's telephone number and sex is optional;
(8) a space or box for indicating whether the
applicant or voter is submitting new registration information or a
change in current registration information;
(9) a statement instructing a voter who is using the
form to make a change in current registration information to enter
the voter's name and the changed information in the appropriate
spaces on the form;
(10) a statement that if the applicant declines to
register to vote, that fact will remain confidential and will be
used only for voter registration purposes;
(11) a statement that if the applicant does register
to vote, information regarding the agency or office to which the
application is submitted will remain confidential and will be used
only for voter registration purposes;
(12) a space or box for indicating whether the
applicant is interested in working as an election judge;
(13) a statement warning that a conviction for making
a false statement may result in imprisonment for up to the maximum
amount of time provided by law, a fine of up to the maximum amount
provided by law, or both the imprisonment and the fine; [and]
(14) a perforated receipt that may be authenticated
and detached by a deputy registrar pursuant to Section 13.040; and
(15) any other voter registration information
required by federal law or considered appropriate and required by
the secretary of state.
SECTION 6. To the extent of any conflict, this Act prevails
over another Act of the 83rd Legislature, Regular Session, 2013,
relating to nonsubstantive additions to and corrections in enacted
codes.
SECTION 7. This Act takes effect September 1, 2013.