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Election Advisory No. 2018-10

To: County Elections Officers (County Clerks/Elections Administrators/Tax Assessors-Collectors)
From: Keith Ingram, Director of Elections
Keith Ingram's signature
Date: February 12, 2018

RE:

Limited Ballot Voters and District Chart (Chapters 111 and 112, Texas Election Code)

A registered voter who has moved from the county in which he or she is registered to a new county of residence in Texas, and who will not be registered to vote in the new county on or before March 6, 2018 may be eligible to vote a “limited ballot” in person or by mail in the new county of residence in the upcoming March 6, 2018 Primary Election under the following conditions:

Time for Casting Limited Ballot

Voters may vote using this limited ballot procedure only during the early voting period, which is February 20, 2018 through March 2, 2018 for the March 6, 2018 Primary Election.

What is on the Limited Ballot

A person entitled to vote a limited ballot may vote on all statewide races and any district offices that are in common between the former and new counties of residence.

The district chart (Republican Primary (PDF)) (Democratic Primary (PDF)) indicates each district race in your county, as well as the district races in other Texas counties. The district chart is to assist you in determining the races for which eligible voters may vote when applying for a limited ballot. The district chart does not detail precincts that are in common if your county contains only part of a district.  If a voter moves from one county to another and the county is split by a district, the early voting clerk in the new county should contact the clerk in the old county to determine if the district race is in common. The number under the race name is the district number of the race.

In-Person Procedure for Processing Voter Casting a Limited Ballot

As the Early Voting Clerk, once you have determined that a voter is eligible to cast a limited ballot, please follow these steps for processing a voter:

NOTE:  On election day, the polling place official must inform any voter who requests a limited ballot that this process is not available; however, if the voter insists on voting, they will be required to cast a provisional ballot.

By Mail Procedure for Processing Voter Casting a Limited Ballot

As the Early Voting Clerk, once you have determined that a voter is eligible to cast a limited ballot, please follow these steps for processing a voter:

Casting and Counting Limited Ballots by Voting Method

Casting the Vote Counting the Vote

DREs

  • Provide an early voting by mail ballot to voter.
  • Using the same type of marking instrument provided to voters, the election custodian must mark through ineligible district offices and county and precinct offices AND overvote the marks next to those races, in the event the voter attempts to vote in the ineligible races anyway.

Note: On some systems making a mark next to an uncontested race will result in a vote for that uncontested local race.  In this instance, please do not mark the oval or arrow next to the uncontested candidate’s name.

  • Voter places voted limited ballot in a container or ballot box specially designated for limited ballots.

DREs-Option #1

  • Hand count the voter’s choices.  These numbers are manually added to the vote results in the election management system.

DREs-Option #2

  • The election custodian lines thru the serial number on the ballot to render it unreadable by the optical scan machine.
  • Duplicate into Ballot Programming System.

DREs-Option #3

  • Run the ballot through the tabulator in the same manner as the regular by mail ballots.  Don’t forget to review the ballot first to ensure that no votes were cast for ineligible races; if they were, the ballot should be duplicated (See Option #2 above).

Optical Scan method

  • Provide an optical scan ballot (from whatever source is available (by mail, early voting in person, or extra election day precinct).
  • The election custodian at the main early voting location lines thru the serial number on the ballot to render it unreadable by the optical scan machine. OR Using the same type of marking instrument provided to voters, the election custodian must mark through ineligible district offices and county and precinct offices AND overvote the marks next to those races, in the event the voter attempts to vote in the ineligible races anyway but leave serial number intact for counting by tabulator.

Note: On some systems making a mark next to an uncontested race will result in a vote for that uncontested local race.  In this instance, please do not mark the oval or arrow next to the uncontested candidate’s name.

  • Voter places voted limited ballot in regular ballot box designated for early voters or a container or ballot box specially designated for limited ballots, depending on the direction by the local elections custodian.

Optical Scan method-Option #1

  • Hand count the voter’s choices.  These numbers are manually added to the vote results in the election management system.

Optical Scan method-Option #2

  • (If not done prior to voting) The election custodian lines thru the serial number on the ballot to render it unreadable by the optical scan machine.
  • Duplicate voted ballot onto a new optical scan ballot.  Record the number of the duplicated ballot onto the new ballot.
  • Run new ballot through tabulator.

Optical Scan method-Option #3

  • Run the ballot through the tabulator. Don’t forget to review the ballot first to ensure that no votes were cast for ineligible races; if they were, the ballot should be duplicated (See Option #2 above)

We recommend using similar methods if you are creating a “federal office only” ballot pursuant to Chapter 114 of the Code.

If you have any questions regarding limited balloting, please contact the Elections Division at 1-800-252-2216.

KI:CA