A state lawmaker’s proposal to let Texas children mark their parents’ ballots has raised concerns with election workers.
House Bill 429 by State Rep. Ryan Guillen (R–Rio Grande City) would allow a child under 16 who accompanies their parent to the polls to mark a ballot at their parent’s direction.
Guillen introduced HB 429 during a House Elections Committee hearing on Thursday.
He explained that his goal is to encourage more voter participation among younger Texans by teaching them about the election process.
“The simple measure will ensure that parents are not stripped of the opportunity to teach their kids about one of the most important rights and responsibilities that we have as Americans,” Guillen told the committee.
But one longtime election judge recommended voting “no” on letting kids cast ballots for their parents.
Cindi Castilla told Guillen that while families are welcome to bring their children to the polls, his proposal would create challenges for poll workers and could compromise election integrity.
Castilla, a conservative activist and president of Texas Eagle Forum, has worked in Dallas County elections for decades.
“An election judge will not really be able to question, ‘Is this really your child? Are you really under this age?’” she testified.
It makes an election judge have a really hard time. Our duty is to deliver a proper election. And a child doesn’t have ID … you can’t question if a child belongs to a parent, if it’s really their child.
It puts us in a really hard situation to deliver the very best election we can deliver.
“We don’t practice doing things that aren’t legal yet, as a general rule, with our children,” Castilla noted. “We don’t practice smoking at nine … We have some things that we have ages for, and it’s a right and/or a privilege that you earn with age.”
Castilla also cautioned that allowing unidentified people to mark ballots could enable paid vote delivery schemes.
Williamson County resident and election integrity advocate Terry Putnam also testified against HB 429.
Putnam said that in addition to concerns about election workers’ inability to validate the identities of the children being allowed to mark ballots, he believes it would slow the voting process.
“I am for educating our children about voting and the significance and the importance of it,” he said. “However, I think this is the wrong venue for the education of children.”
Another witness, Kathy Haigler, said HB 429 “seems very warm and fuzzy” but raises “a lot of different concerns.”
Haigler asked if there would be a form to record the names of the children who voted, “because normally we would have a record of everybody who came in and put their hands on a machine.”
She also noted that parents telling their children who to vote for “will totally strip away their right to a secret ballot,” because others in the polling place will hear.
“We already have the opportunity to bring your children in to explain to them what you’re doing, to show them what you’re doing, without them having to touch anything or cast a ballot. So we don’t really need this,” concluded Haigler.
Guillen said the House has passed similar measures during the last two legislative sessions, but they failed to pass the Senate.
His proposal was left pending.
The committee also heard testimony on several other elections-related bills, including:
• House Bill 496 by State Rep. Valoree Swanson (R–Spring) to add a “none of the above” option to ballots.
• House Bill 665 by State Rep. John Bucy (D–Austin) to require the secretary of state’s website to post information about local elections and candidates.
•House Bill 677 by State Rep. Mano DeAyala (R–Houston) to restrict the political activities of county elections administrators.
• House Bill 952 by State Rep. Steve Toth (R–Conroe) to add a unique electronically scannable code to mail-in ballots that can be used to verify the ballots’ authenticity.
The next House Elections Committee meeting is scheduled for March 20.
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