Bill > HB259

This bill allows municipalities and independent school districts in Texas to authorize the use of preferential voting, also known as ranked-choice voting, for the election of non-partisan local offices. The bill requires the Secretary of State to prescribe procedures for this system, which allows voters to rank candidates in order of preference. If no candidate receives a majority of the initial votes, the votes of the candidate with the fewest votes are reassigned to the voters' next preferred candidate until one candidate achieves a majority. The bill also eliminates the need for primary elections and runoff elections for these offices.