SECTION 81.101. Primary and Runoff Election Cost Reporting; Receipt of State Funds

(a) Definitions. The following words and terms, when used in this section, shall have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.

(1) SOS--Office of the Secretary of State.

(2) Primary--An election held by a political party under Chapter 172 of the Texas Election Code to select its nominees for public office, and, unless the context indicates otherwise, the term includes a presidential primary election.

(3) Runoff--An election held to determine the nomination if no candidate for nomination to a particular office receives the vote required for nomination in the general primary election.

(4) County election officer--County election administrator, county clerk, or county tax assessor-collector, depending on the county, responsible for election duties in the county.

(5) Vendor--Any company with a voting system certified for use in Texas by the SOS.

(b) This subchapter applies to the use and management of all primary funds.

(c) Approval by the Secretary of State (SOS) of a primary cost estimate does not relieve the recipient of primary funds including, but not limited to, the state chair of a political party, the county chair of a political party, the county election officer, or a voting system vendor, of their responsibility to comply with administrative rules issued by the SOS, or with any statute governing the use of primary funds.

(d) The SOS shall provide a primary cost estimate for each county political party broken into three categories, as applicable:

(1) The SOS will provide an estimate for each expense incurred by the county chair based on 75% of the final approved "non-contracted" costs less non-state appropriated financing sources (e.g., filing fees) for the most recent comparable election for which data is available as determined by the SOS. In order to receive the primary estimate payment, the chair must submit to the SOS a primary cost estimate via the online primary finance system prescribed by the SOS. If data is not available to create a pre-populated cost estimate or if the chair wishes to amend the pre-populated estimate, the chair may enter the appropriate data in the SOS online primary finance system.

(2) The SOS will provide an estimate for each expense incurred by the county election officer based on 75% of the final approved "contracted" costs for the most recent comparable election for which data is available as determined by the SOS. In order to receive the primary estimate payment, the county election officer must submit to the SOS a primary cost estimate via the online primary finance system prescribed by the SOS. If data is not available to create a pre-populated cost estimate or if the county election officer wishes to amend the pre-populated estimate, the county election officer may enter the appropriate data in the SOS online primary finance system.

(e) If a runoff election is conducted, the estimate payments will be calculated and paid following the same process prescribed in subsection (d) of this section with the following exceptions:

(1) Filing fees are not factored into the calculation.

(2) The vendor must provide the estimated runoff costs in the electronic format prescribed by the SOS within five (5) days after the date of the canvass of the primary election results.

(f) After the primary or runoff election, as applicable, the actual expenditures must be reported to SOS as follows:

(1) The vendors must submit data in the electronic format prescribed by the SOS that identifies the final costs and includes all applicable fields prescribed by the SOS.

(A) Only expenses that are billable to the primary fund may be included. Expenses including, but not limited to, early voting kits and supplies, "I Voted Stickers", and party convention supplies, must appear on a separate invoice billed to the county election officer or the party, as appropriate.

(B) If a cost is to be split between both parties, the split costs must be reported separately.

(C) The vendor must identify whether the county chair or the county election officer is ordering the service. The county chair earns five (5) percent calculated against the cost of the services ordered by the chair, and the county election officer earns ten (10) percent of the cost of the services ordered by the county election officer.

(D) The SOS will not make final payments to the county chairs or the county election officers until the SOS receives the vendor submission described in this section.

(2) The county chair and the county election officer, if an election service contract is executed between the county executive committee and the county election officer, must submit actual expenditures in the electronic format prescribed by the SOS.

(A) Costs incurred by the county chair shall be reported to the SOS by the county chair. Those costs will be calculated consistent with §81.119 of this chapter (relating to County Chair's Compensation).

(B) Costs incurred by the county election officer shall be reported to the SOS by the county election officer. Those costs will be calculated consistent with §81.131 of this chapter (relating to Contracting with the County Election Officer).

(g) Section 173.0832 of the Texas Election Code provides for direct payment from the SOS to a county election officer who conducts a primary election under an election services contract. The SOS requires all county election officers conducting election services for a primary election to receive direct payment from the SOS.

(h) Pursuant to §173.0341 of the Texas Election Code, a state chair, or the designee of a state chair, may enter into an agreement with a county chair, utilizing a form prescribed by the SOS, under which the state chair will act as a fiscal agent for the county party.

Source Note: The provisions of this §81.101 adopted to be effective December 13, 2009, 34 TexReg 8665; amended to be effective March 7, 2012, 37 TexReg 1483; amended to be effective January 9, 2014, 39 TexReg 209; amended to be effective November 9, 2015, 40 TexReg 7811; amended to be effective October 29, 2017, 42 TexReg 5853; amended to be effective December 29, 2019, 44 TexReg 7884; amended to be effective January 17, 2024, 49 TexReg 133