Bill Summary: CS/CS/HB 7041 - Elections

• Creates restrictions on state and county officials settling election law challenges without notifying the President of the Senate, Speaker of the House, and Attorney General, and requires moving to dismiss cases if the Legislature later amends the law.

• Modifies voter registration requirements, including clarified felony status affirmations, residence address verification procedures, and third-party voter registration organization obligations with increased fines for late ballot delivery (up to $50-$1,000 per application).

• Restricts vote-by-mail ballot distribution: counties/municipalities cannot send ballots without voter request, designees can only carry up to 2 ballots per election (plus immediate family), and requires signed declarations and attestations for drop box returns with monitoring and video surveillance requirements.

• Establishes new election transparency and security measures including supervisor reporting of vote-by-mail ballot counts hourly starting at 7 p.m. on election day, expanded ballot inspection access, 22-month ballot retention requirement, and $25,000 civil penalties for unauthorized drop box access.

• Implements various procedural changes including 100-foot reduction in no-solicitation zones around polling places, 8-year signature verification windows, restrictions on political affiliation use in signature matching, and prohibits false declarations regarding vote-by-mail ballots as felonies.