AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - Usually, a 2 percent response rate is not considered a success, but it is for a Texas pilot program that allows soldiers in combat zones to cast ballots via email.
State lawmakers passed a bill in 2013 directing the secretary of state to allow one county in Texas to allow soldiers in hostile fire zones to cast email ballots.
Then-Secretary of State John Steen chose Bexar County, home of San Antonio and the 50,000 enlisted military members of Joint Base San Antonio, to be the first for the program.
The office of current Secretary of State Carlos Cascos said that 365 ballots were emailed to soldiers overseas for the November general election. Eight voters, who had to sign affidavits stating they were in a hostile fire zone, emailed the ballots back, said Bexar County Elections Administrator Jacquelyn Callanen. The number was nearly three times as many as were cast in the March primary, when three ballots out of the 22 sent overseas were returned via email.
“I consider it a huge success,” Callanen said in a recent interview at the Texas Capitol, where she was testifying for a bill that would expand the pilot program to two military-rich counties.
For years, Texas soldiers stationed overseas have been able to request a ballot electronically, but then must print them out, complete their votes and send them in via regular mail, which can take weeks.
In 2009, Congress passed a law that enabled states to experiment with emerging technology and initiate pilot programs. Some 18 states now allow military voters to submit absentee ballots through email, Department of Defense spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Nate Christensen said.
Five other states allow state ballots to be returned via email in certain circumstances, Christensen said. Iowa and Missouri permit soldiers in hostile fire zones to send ballots in electronically. Louisiana and Nebraska allow soldiers to return ballots via email if their ballots otherwise would not reach state officials in time to be counted. Idaho allows email voting in certain emergency situations designated by the secretary of state.
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NELSON: TEXAS SENATE, HOUSE ’BOTH RIGHT’ ON TAX CUT PLANS
The Texas Senate’s chief budget writer says of differences in sweeping tax-cut proposals between her chamber and the House: “We’re both right.”
The Senate is expected to approve its proposed state budget Tuesday, after the House passed its version following an all-night session two weeks ago.
Nelson supports billions of dollars in property tax cuts, saving the average household around $200 annually.
But House budget writers have backed the first sales tax reduction in state history.
The House plan would cost billions too, while saving the average family of four about $172 per year. It also would benefit everyone, not just homeowners.
Nelson, a Flower Mound Republican, said Monday of her House counterparts, “We’re not spatting with them.”
She added: “This is not that big a difference. It’s not insurmountable.”
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HOUSE VOTES TO RAISE STATE EMPLOYEE RETIREMENT CONTRIBUTIONS
State employees are set to see an increase in how much they contribute to their retirement plans - a move lawmakers say would shore up the chronically underfunded Employee Retirement System of Texas.
The Texas House preliminarily approved a bill Monday increasing all employees’ contributions to the fund to 9.5 percent. Contributions currently vary depending on employee position.
Half-a-million-plus employees, retirees and their relatives depend on the fund for retirement and health benefits.
The state would also increase its contributions, from 7.5 percent to 9.5 percent, and employees would see a 2.5 percent pay raise.
The bill needs a final, procedural House vote before heading to the Senate.
Without it, lawmakers say, the fund would remain actuarially unsound. Its unfunded balance was about $7.5 billion last year alone.
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HOUSE VOTES TO REQUIRE HEART SCAN TESTING FOR HIGH SCHOOL ATHELETES
The Texas House has preliminarily approved requiring high school athletes to undergo electrocardiogram testing for possible degenerative heart problems before participating in campus sports.
Representatives voted 86-57 Monday to make EKG testing mandatory as part of physicals taken to participate in all University Interscholastic League activities.
They did so while Scott Stephens - whose son Cody was a high school football player but died in 2012 of sudden cardiac arrest just before graduating - watched from the gallery.
The national nonprofit Children’s Heart Foundation says 3,600-plus Texas children born each year suffer a congenital heart defect. That predisposes them to sudden cardiac death.
The EKG tests will cost families about $15.
The bill faces a final, procedural House vote before going to the Senate.
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ON DECK
The House heads back to work at 10 a.m. Tuesday and has two much-watched bills on its calendar. One would ban local ordinances prohibiting hydraulic fracking and other oil and gas exploration activities. Another seeks to allow Texans with proper licenses to openly carry their handguns. The Senate, meanwhile, is back at 11 a.m. and is expected to take up and approve another major item - its version of the state budget.
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QUOTE OF THE DAY
“There is a reason the military loves Texas,” a respondent to a survey for military voters who was cheering a Texas pilot program allowing soldiers in combat zones to cast ballots via email.
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