Bill > SB537

This bill amends the Texas Election Code to allow the governing bodies of counties, municipalities, and independent school districts to authorize the use of preferential voting for the election of their officers. The bill requires the Secretary of State to prescribe procedures for this preferential voting system, which must allow voters to rank candidates from most to least favored. If no candidate receives a majority of the highest-ranked votes, the votes of the candidate with the fewest votes are reassigned to the next-highest ranked candidate until one candidate receives a majority. The bill also specifies that primary elections are not held for these offices and that runoff elections are not required. The bill takes effect on September 1, 2021.