Hearing Monday on Sen. Bettencourt’s Election Integrity Bills
March 25, 2023 | Austin, TX
We are happy to report that Montgomery County Senator Paul Bettencourt of District 7 is focused on election integrity and has a list of bills that will be taken up in a Senate Hearing on at 9 am on Mon., March 27 in the Senate Chamber.
A summary of each bill follows. If you are concerned about the security of our elections and have a story to tell, please consider making the trip to Austin to testify. If you can not attend, but still want your thoughts recorded, you may email members of the committee.
SB 1039 - Election irregularities occur in every election cycle. This bill would establish a civil administration review process to identify and remedy irregularities and improve access, security, processes, documentation, and accuracy with each election.
As examples, at one poll, all the seals were broken and the judge did nothing about it and at a drop off, there were no chain of custody documents.
Under current law, election irregularities are mostly addressed if there is an election contest, which happens rarely. The result is irregularities that are identified by election judges, candidates, proponents/opponents of a measure, and party chairs are not always attended to, and create a lack of confidence in the system.
SB 1907 - This bill would provide added oversight to the collection of precinct returns. Due to inadequate training, some election judges did not return all of the correct information. People were sent to pick up the information and it was not delivered promptly. Therefore the count was not completed until 2 am.
The Secretary of State may supervise the activities necessary to complete the count, prepare the precinct returns and distribute the records. Currently, a district judge may impound the records. The bill would require that if a district judge impounds the election records, the judge would be required to supervise the activities.
SB 1911 - In Harris County in the November 2022 election, more than 120 of the over 780 Election Day polls were supplied with an insufficient amount of ballot paper. More than 29 polls were not able to get more ballots before they ran out of paper and voters were not able to vote.
In the same election, a temporary restraining order was issued to extend the time the polls were open until 8 pm. However, the election administrator’s office posted election results from early voting before 8:00 pm.
This bill would increase the penalty for:
The intentional failure to deliver election supplies timely from a Class C to a Class A misdemeanor;
Intentionally obstructing the distribution of election supplies for an election from a Class C misdemeanor to a state jail felony; and
Unlawfully revealing how a candidate or measure is doing or if a voter has or has not voted in an election before from a Class A misdemeanor to a state jail felony.
SB 1938 - It is frustrating to those of us concerned about election integrity when registrars fail to remove from the rolls who have died, moved or otherwise become ineligible, setting up opportunities for voter fraud. Federal and state laws require that voter rolls be accurately and currently maintained.
In the last legislative session, SB 11113 was passed, requiring the Secretary of State to withhold Chapter 19 funds if a voter registrar fails to timely perform a duty regarding the approval, change, or cancellation of a voter's registration. This remedy was limited to the cancellation subchapter. SB 1938 would extend the ability of the Secretary of State to withhold Chapter 19 funds, if anywhere in the code, the voter registrar fails to timely perform a duty regarding the approval, change, or cancellation of voter registration.
SB 1950 - You can’t change the rules after the game is in play and you don’t get to follow only the laws you like. Sounds reasonable, right?
Under our election code, there are requirements for reviewing ballots from mail carrier envelopes by the Signature Verification Committee and the Early Voting Ballot Board. The requirements include:
Proper execution
The signature on the application or carrier envelope is determined to be executed by a person other than the voter
The application states a legal reason for voting by mail
A voter is registered to vote
If absentee voting, the address on the application is outside of the county
If a statement of residence was required, one is included
Address requirements are met
Identifying information on the carrier envelope identifies the same voter on the application
However, the Harris County Election Administrator instructed the Signature Verification Committee that they were not to verify the identification on the application to the voter records because the Election Administrator staff had already done that comparison.
Additionally, the Signature Verification Committee was instructed to compare the identification numbers between the application and the carrier envelope. They were instructed to not compare the signatures. After a call to the Secretary of State and approximately 700 carrier envelopes were reviewed, the Signature Verification Committee was instructed to follow the law as described above.
SB 1950 would require that the county clerk, elections administrator, early voting clerk, or early voting ballot board not suspend the requirements of the mail ballot review. It would create an offense for violation of this section, a Class A misdemeanor.
Other Election Integrity Bills to be Heard in the Hearing
Click here to view a list of additional bills that will be heard in this hearing and recommendations from Texas Eagle Forum.
Take Action
We are asking that anyone who has a story to tell on election integrity either consider going to Austin to testify at the hearing on March 27 at 9 am in the Senate Chamber or email committee members so your statement will be included in the record.
State Affairs Committee Members:
Senator Paul Bettencourt
Send an email
Senator Brian Birdwell
Send an email
Senator Morgan LaMantia
Send an email
Senator Jose’ Menendez
Send an email
Senator Mayes Middleton
Send an email
Senator Tan Parker
Send an email
Senator Charles Perry
Send an email
Senator Charles Schwertner
Send an email
Senator Judith Zaffirini
Send an email