Amends TCA Title 2.

This bill revises various provisions regarding the state election commission, county election commission, and the duties of the secretary of state and coordinator of elections, as discussed below. STATE ELECTION COMMISSION This bill revises provisions governing the state election commission, as follows: (1) Size of commission: Present law sets the membership of the state election commission at seven members, but provides that if the majority party of the general assembly changed as a result of the 2008 regular November election, then two additional members from the majority party had to be added to the commission. This bill increases the commission from seven to nine members, removes the provision regarding the change of the majority party, and increases from two to three the maximum number of commission members that may be from the same grand division; (2) Political composition of commission: Under present law, the required composition of the commission is four members of the majority party and three members of the minority party. This bill revises this provision to instead require a composition of three members each of the majority and minority parties and three additional members to be elected, without regard to political affiliation, by the six members of the general assembly who serve on the commission. These three additional members will be elected by the affirmative vote of five of the six general assembly-commission members. This election must take place at the first meeting of the commission after the general assembly members are elected. The general assembly-commission member will accept nominations for the three additional members; and (3) Vacancies: Under present law, if a vacancy occurs, the person who is selected to fill the vacancy must be of the same political affiliation of the member who is being replaced; under this bill, this requirement will only apply in regard to the general assembly members of the commission, and the remaining commission members will select a person to fill the vacancy. If the remaining members are unable to agree on a person to fill the vacancy of a non-general assembly commission member within 30 days after the vacancy, then the secretary of state, the comptroller, and the state treasurer, or a majority of those officers will appoint a person to fill the vacancy. COUNTY ELECTION COMMISSIONS This bill revises provisions governing the membership of county election commissions, as follows: (1) Under present law, the state election commission appoints five commissioners for each county's election commission odd-numbered year. This bill reduces from five to four the number of commissioners for each county that the state election commission will appoint, and requires that those four members of the county election commission appoint the fifth member; and (2) Under present law, each county election commission is composed of three members of the majority party and two members of the minority party. This bill changes the composition to be two members each from the majority and minority parties. COORDINATOR OF ELECTIONS/SECRETARY OF STATE/DUTIES This bill: (1) Transfers the duty to appoint the coordinator of elections from the secretary of state to the state election commission; (2) Revises the rulemaking authority of the coordinator. Under present law, the secretary of state must concur with the coordinator's rules. This bill instead requires approval of the commission and coordination with the secretary of state. This bill makes a similar revision with regard to the coordinator's authority to employ personnel; (3) Requires the coordinator of elections to ensure that information related to elections and voting are available in an easy to read and understand format on the secretary of state's website; and (4) Transfers from the secretary of state to the coordinator of elections: (A) Duties relating to the printing of ballots, the determination as to whose names will appear on ballots, and other ballot-related duties; (B) The authority to request certain documentation regarding precinct-based optical scanners; and (C) The duty to designate an escrow agent regarding precinct-based optical scanners.