By: Schofield (Senate Sponsor - Bettencourt) H.B. No. 1151
         (In the Senate - Received from the House May 15, 2017;
  May 15, 2017, read first time and referred to Committee on State
  Affairs; May 19, 2017, reported favorably by the following vote:  
  Yeas 9, Nays 0; May 19, 2017, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
 
  relating to the deadline for returning a ballot voted by mail.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Section 86.007, Election Code, is amended by
  amending Subsections (a), (d), (e), and (f) and adding Subsection
  (d-1) to read as follows:
         (a)  Except as provided by Subsection (d), a marked ballot
  voted by mail must arrive at the address on the carrier envelope:
               (1)  before the time the polls are required to close on
  election day; or
               (2)  not later than 5 p.m. on the day after election
  day, if the carrier envelope was placed for delivery by mail or
  common or contract carrier before election day and bears a
  cancellation mark of a common or contract carrier or a courier
  indicating a time not later than 7 p.m. at the location of the
  election on election day.
         (d)  A marked ballot voted by mail that arrives after the
  time prescribed by Subsection (a) shall be counted if:
               (1)  the ballot was cast from an address outside the
  United States;
               (2)  the carrier envelope was placed for delivery
  before the time the ballot is required to arrive under Subsection
  (a)(1) [(a)]; and
               (3)  the ballot arrives at the address on the carrier
  envelope not later than the fifth day after the date of the
  election.
         (d-1)  If the deadline for the arrival of a ballot voted by
  mail[, except that if that date] falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or
  legal state or national holiday, then the deadline is extended to
  the next regular business day.
         (e)  A delivery under Subsection (a)(2) or (d) [(d)(2)] is
  timely, except as otherwise provided by this title, if the carrier
  envelope or, if applicable, the envelope containing the carrier
  envelope:
               (1)  is properly addressed with postage or handling
  charges prepaid; and
               (2)  [is sent from an address outside the United
  States; and
               [(3)]  bears a cancellation mark of a recognized postal
  service or a receipt mark of a common or contract carrier or a
  courier indicating a time before the deadline.
         (f)  The [If the] envelope must [does not] bear the
  cancellation mark or receipt mark as required by Subsection (e)(2)
  [(e)(3), a delivery under Subsection (d)(1) is presumed] to be
  timely [if the other requirements] under this section [are met].  
  [Section 1.006 does not apply to Subsection (d)(3).]
         SECTION 2.  Section 87.125(a-1), Election Code, is amended
  to read as follows:
         (a-1)  Notwithstanding Subsection (a), for an election held
  on the date of the general election for state and county officers,
  the early voting ballot board shall convene to count ballots voted
  by mail described by Sections [Section] 86.007(d) and (d-1) not
  later than the 13th day after the date of the election.
         SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2017.
 
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