From Votebeat and The Texas Tribune:
After considering a number of bills that would significantly reshape election administration and voting access in the state, Texas lawmakers ultimately approved only a few, including legislation that would alter the schedule of the 12-day early-voting period to increase access.
They also passed measures aimed at reducing rejections of mail-voting applications and ballots, and added new restrictions on curbside voting, but held off on some more controversial proposals.
Among the bills that didn’t advance were Senate Bill 16, one of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s priority bills, which would have imposed a strict requirement for voters to provide documentary proof of citizenship, and a measure that would have given state Attorney General Ken Paxton more authority to prosecute election crimes. Bills that would have permitted online voter registration, audits of hand-count results, and guns in polling sites also stalled.
Here’s a look at the election bills discussed during the latest legislative session, and how they turned out:
Texas is set to expand early voting, a change that could delay partial preliminary results
Legislation that expanded early voting had evolved considerably before its passage. The bill as initially drafted would have banned vote centers, a model offered by some counties where voters can cast ballots at any polling place in the county. The proposal prompted pushback from counties that said vote centers save taxpayers millions of dollars and make voting more convenient.
After a series of changes, Senate Bill 2753 became “a compromise,” said the bill’s author, Sen. Bob Hall of North Texas. The bill retains the required 12-day early voting period, but starts it later, and eliminates a three-day gap between the end of early voting and Election Day.
That schedule gives voters an extra weekend of access to early voting. And the bill requires that voting be available for nine hours on Sundays, instead of six, and that voting be open on any holidays during the early voting period.
But the changes mean that partial vote tallies from the early ballots, which are typically released shortly after polls close on Election Day, won’t be available until later, when all polling locations have closed and reported tallies. That could push total results later, election administrators told Votebeat.
Some election officials said the changes would require hiring additional election workers to work longer hours, as well as more voting equipment and possibly additional polling locations. Counties would have to cover those costs, as the state didn’t allocate additional funding.
The bill directs the Texas secretary of state to consult with counties and report to the Legislature on whether they are prepared to implement the changes by August 2027.
