The House Committee on Elections met to take up a full agenda including HB 25 (Simmons) relating to the elimination of straight-party voting which this report focuses on.
Rep. Simmons Laid out HB 25 Relating to the elimination of straight-party voting.
- Eliminates one punch voting during general elections
- 40 states disallow one punch voting
- Candidates that have closest to voters end up being vetted the least in some cases
- N. Carolina ended one punch voting and in 2016 results show less roll offs or under-votes than it was in straight ticket
- Provides examples showing increase in voter turn-out when one punch voting is eliminated
17 Witnesses registered to testify
Allen Vera, Harris County Republican Party on HB 25
- Consequence of ending one punch vote – Harris county has a long ballot and says ending one-punch voting will mean it takes longer and may mean longer lines and unfunded mandate on counties that must accommodate
- Israel – inquired on length of lines last election
- Not too bad but there were complaints in the early voting days
- Swanson – also concerned about long lines and will follow up with witnesses who can answer
Tom Glass, League of Independent Voters in favor of HB 25
- Bill as about good government and getting the best qualified people
Katija Gruene, Secretary of Green Party in favor of HB 25
- The opposition argument to her is about if voting machines are in right places, etc
- 40 other states are already doing it and they deal with voter turn out
Mark Miller, Libertarian Party of Texas in favor of HB 25
- Larson – have you seen more Libertarian candidates successful in their bid?
- Have not achieved significant successes at the ballot box
Herbert Gonzales, Bexar County Green Party in favor of HB 25
- He considers one punch vote a manipulation and odious
Erin Lunceford, self in favor of HB 25
- Poster child of why straight ticket voting is bad
- Was appointed to 61st district, no primary opponent and received many endorsements but still lost and believes it is due to one punch voting
- Reynolds – the party who loses usually wants a change were party empowered usually wants it to be kept the same, how do we keep this from being partisan?
- This is the first step and believes there is a task force looking at a Constitutional Amendment for judges but partisan combined with one punch is the absolutely worse way to elect judges
Ryan Simpson, self in favor of HB 25
- Need to encourage people to be educated on candidates
Bill Fairbrother, Texas Republican County Chair on HB 25
- 65% of party chairs voted to keep but a large number had opposite view so staying neutral
- Israel – will you need more election equipment, updated machines?
- Will defer to SOS, election officials
Manny Garcia, Texas Democratic Party opposes HB 25
- What is wrong with voters being able to vote their beliefs with one mark
- Party labels are still on the ballot so all the bill does it make it take longer to vote
- Bill will make voting more onerous and create longer lines
Jacque Callanen, Bexar County Elections Administrator in favor of HB 25
- You still have to see every single page even with straight party voting – you still have to go through the ballot
- Laubenberg – has there been issues with calibrating before
- Yes
- Larson – is approach taken to lessen lines to buy more machines
- Yes but can also go to another line and working on line management programs
Robert Stovall, Chair of Republican Party in Bexar County in favor of HB 25
- Issue is of uniformed voter
Jeff Blaylock, self and publisher of Texas Election Source in favor of HB 25
- Has done tremendous research regarding straight party voting and provided handouts for the committee
- Texans used straight party more than any other state and set record last election
- In regards to Reynolds question about making it non-partisan – keeping qualified candidates and it does cut both ways
- Argues that perhaps voters do not pay attention/know legislators’ names – provide examples saying he believes people are not voting for specific candidate and missing candidates and propositions as a result
- Isreal – hears that districts are so skewed which also impacts voters
- Yes, but straight party option present is preventing people from walking through and looking at who they are voting for. There are significant number of districts where there is a huge advantage in straight party voting because of the boundaries
Ed Johnson, Harris County Clerk’s Office on HB 25
- Straight party voting has caused confusion in the past
- First three days of early voting this election were off the chart
- When there was an issue or question is machine was working correctly, it took longer on the ballot and brought up more voter confusion and in some cases straight party caused more confusion
- Local school board race was not partisan so they had numerous voters come in after they had cast the ballot to want to go back and vote for the trustee candidates – disenfranchised voters because they could not cast another ballot to vote for the trustees they missed after the casted the first one
- Laubenberg – asked if they hold county wide elections
- Yes in the early voting but by precincts on the election day
- Swanson – wants to know if they feel they can handle possible increase to voting time
- Have plenty of machines and can get more if required
- Says now will be a good time to start so they are ready for the Presidential election
Yannis Banks, NAACP opposes HB 25
- If person wants to vote one party they have a right and it should be made available to them and they should not have to go through the long ballot, also have concerns on it creating long lines
- Maybe there is a better way to educate voters on down ballot candidates
- Fallon – in regards to Michigan case, do you think it will affect minority voters
- It’s possible
Rep. Simmons
- Voters can make good decisions and disagrees that the number one thing is to make voting easier, the number one thing is to educate voters so they can vote for best candidate
- Notes where he disagrees on some testimony and said he can’t find any articles where straight party voting had been eliminated and it impacting voting negatively such as longer lines, etc
Bill reported out favorably (5-2)