SECTION 81.109. Costs not Payable with Primary Funds

(a) Pursuant to §173.001 of the Texas Election Code, only expenses necessary for and directly related to the conduct of primary elections are payable from primary funds.

(b) Political expenses and expenses for any activity forbidden by statute or rule are not payable from the primary fund. Examples of non-payable expenses include, but are not limited to, the following:

(1) expenses incurred in connection with a convention of a political party;

(2) any food or drink items;

(3) stationery not related to the conduct of the primary election;

(4) costs associated with voter-registration drives or get-out-the-vote campaigns;

(5) election notices, except for public testing announcements;

(6) early voting costs, except for ballots and early voting ballot board costs;

(7) a public building used as a polling place or central counting station if the building is normally open the day of the election, including a charge for personnel, utilities, or other expenses incurred before or after regular business hours;

(8) election worker compensation to attend training;

(9) costs for training material available through the SOS;

(10) duties a county election officer is statutorily required to perform as well as salaries of county personnel during regular business hours;

(11) voting by mail kits and postage related to mail ballots;

(12) purchases of MBBs/PEBs or other voting system items transferable to other elections;

(13) voting booths and ballot boxes owned by the county and other county-owned equipment where there is no statutory authority to charge for said equipment including, but not limited to, electronic poll books, removable voting system components, vehicles, etc;

(14) a sign that is used to indicate a location of a polling place for a primary election or primary runoff election that violates any of the following criteria:

(A) a sign that refers to a candidate or measure on the ballot;

(B) a sign in which the size and format is not coordinated between the political parties holding a primary election or primary runoff election in the same county.

Source Note: The provisions of this §81.109 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 October 29, 2017, 42 TexReg 5853