The early voting ballot board must review mailed early-voting ballots, accept them only if listed requirements are met, and reject ballots that fail any required condition.
Sec. 87.041. ACCEPTING VOTER. (a) The early voting ballot board shall open each jacket envelope for an early voting ballot voted by mail and determine whether to accept the voter's ballot. (b) A ballot may be accepted only if: (1) the carrier envelope certificate is properly executed; (2) neither the voter's signature on the ballot application nor the signature on the carrier envelope certificate is determined to have been executed by a person other than the voter, unless signed by a witness; (3) the voter's ballot application states a legal ground for early voting by mail; (4) the voter is registered to vote, if registration is required by law; (5) the address to which the ballot was mailed to the voter, as indicated by the application, was outside the voter's county of residence, if the ground for early voting is absence from the county of residence; (6) for a voter to whom a statement of residence form was required to be sent under Section 86.002(a), the statement of residence is returned in the carrier envelope and indicates that the voter satisfies the residence requirements prescribed by Section 63.0011; (7) the address to which the ballot was mailed to the voter is an address that is otherwise required by Sections 84.002 and 86.003; and (8) the information required under Section 86.002(g) provided by the voter identifies the same voter identified on the voter's application for voter registration under Section 13.002(c)(8). (c) If a ballot is accepted, the board shall enter the voter's name on the poll list unless the form of the list makes it impracticable to do so. The names of the voters casting ballots by mail shall be listed separately on the poll list from those casting ballots by personal appearance. (d) A ballot shall be rejected if any requirement prescribed by Subsection (b) is not satisfied. In that case, the board shall indicate the rejection by entering "rejected" on the carrier envelope and on the corresponding jacket envelope. (d-1) If a voter provides the information required under Section 86.002(g) and it identifies the same voter identified on the voter's application for voter registration under Section 13.002(c)(8), the signature on the ballot application and on the carrier envelope certificate shall be rebuttably presumed to be the signatures of the voter. The board shall compare signatures in making a determination under Subsection (b)(2) regardless of whether the presumption provided by this subsection exists. (e) In making the determination under Subsection (b)(2), to determine whether the signatures are those of the voter, the board may also compare the signatures with any known signature of the voter on file with the county clerk or voter registrar. (f) In making the determination under Subsection (b)(2) for a ballot cast under Chapter 101 or 105, the board shall compare the signature on the carrier envelope or signature cover sheet with the signature of the voter on the federal postcard application. (g) A person commits an offense if the person intentionally accepts a ballot for voting or causes a ballot to be accepted for voting that the person knows does not meet the requirements of Subsection (b). An offense under this subsection is a Class A misdemeanor. Acts 1985, 69th Leg., ch. 211, Sec. 1, eff. Jan. 1, 1986. Amended by Acts 1987, 70th Leg., ch. 472, Sec. 34, eff. Sept. 1, 1987; Acts 1991, 72nd Leg., ch. 203, Sec. 1.25; Acts 1991, 72nd Leg., ch. 554, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1991; Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 797, Sec. 42, eff. Sept. 1, 1995; Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 1381, Sec. 22, eff. Sept. 1, 1997; Acts 2003, 78th Leg., ch. 1316, Sec. 27, eff. Sept. 1, 2003. Amended by: Acts 2005, 79th Leg., Ch. 1107 (H.B. 2309), Sec. 1.19, eff. September 1, 2005. Acts 2011, 82nd Leg., R.S., Ch. 1318 (S.B. 100), Sec. 11, eff. September 1, 2011. Acts 2013, 83rd Leg., R.S., Ch. 681 (H.B. 2233), Sec. 1, eff. June 14, 2013. Acts 2017, 85th Leg., 1st C.S., Ch. 1 (S.B. 5), Sec. 15, eff. December 1, 2017. Acts 2021, 87th Leg., 2nd C.S., Ch. 1 (S.B. 1), Sec. 5.13, eff. December 2, 2021. Acts 2023, 88th Leg., R.S., Ch. 1167 (S.B. 1599), Sec. 9, eff. September 1, 2023.