88R19169 LRM-F
	By: Guillen, Morales of Maverick	H.B. No. 1208

	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
	AN ACT
	relating to the reading and marking of a ballot by a person
	occupying a voting station or by the person's child.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
	SECTION 1. Subchapter E, Chapter 31, Election Code, is
	amended by adding Section 31.131 to read as follows:
	Sec. 31.131.  EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS ON CHILD PARTICIPATION
	IN VOTING. (a)  The secretary of state shall develop voter
	education materials for parents on the procedures under Section
	64.002(b) that allow a child under 14 years of age to read and mark
	the ballot while accompanying the child's parent to a voting
	station.  The secretary shall make the voter education materials
	available on the secretary's Internet website.
	(b)  The county officer responsible for administering
	elections in a county to which Section 31.125 applies shall make the
	voter education materials developed by the secretary of state under
	Subsection (a) available on the county's Internet website.
	SECTION 2.  Section 64.002(b), Election Code, is amended to
	read as follows:
	(b)  A child under 18 years of age may accompany the child's
	parent to a voting station, and if the child is under 14 years of
	age, may read or mark the ballot at the direction of the parent.
	Reading or marking a ballot under this subsection does not
	constitute assisting a voter for purposes of Subchapter B.
	SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2023.

Statutes affected:
Introduced: Election Code 64.002 (Election Code 64)
House Committee Report: Election Code 64.002 (Election Code 64)
Engrossed: Election Code 64.002 (Election Code 64)