---
type: "Bill"
title: "Relating to the time for providing a ballot to be voted by mail to a voter."
description: "Relating to the time for providing a ballot to be voted by mail to a voter."
jurisdiction: "us/states/tx"
legislature: "Texas Legislature"
session: "86"
identifier: "HB 273"
citation: "Texas HB 273 (86)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Elections--Early Voting (I0260)"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Swanson", "Zaffirini"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 46
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2018-11-12"
last_action: "2019-06-10"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/20255b5d-325a-4160-aad9-2bbf4ba2a275"
source_url: "ftp://ftp.legis.state.tx.us/bills/86R/billhistory/house_bills/HB00200_HB00299/HB 273.xml"
source_hash: "766b078ad64e4029e6605f0134dea103e3e16b52819a9152dc7a0e51d7612cea"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-tx"]
---

# Texas HB 273 (86) — Relating to the time for providing a ballot to be voted by mail to a voter.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Introduced** (filed) — [source](http://www.legis.state.tx.us/tlodocs/86R/billtext/html/HB00273I.HTM)

## Votes

- passage — **144–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Swanson — primary (person)
- Zaffirini — primary (person)
- Lang — cosponsor (person)
- Zedler — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2018-11-12** Filed `filing`
- **2019-02-19** Read first time `introduction, reading-1`
- **2019-02-19** Referred to Elections `referral-committee`
- **2019-03-04** Considered in public hearing
- **2019-03-04** Testimony taken/registration(s) recorded in committee
- **2019-03-04** Left pending in committee
- **2019-03-18** Considered in public hearing
- **2019-03-18** Committee substitute considered in committee
- **2019-03-18** Reported favorably as substituted `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2019-03-21** Comte report filed with Committee Coordinator
- **2019-03-22** Committee report distributed
- **2019-03-22** Committee report sent to Calendars
- **2019-03-27** Considered in Calendars
- **2019-04-08** Considered in Calendars
- **2019-04-11** Placed on General State Calendar
- **2019-04-11** Read 2nd time `reading-2`
- **2019-04-11** Passed to engrossment
- **2019-04-12** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2019-04-12** Passed `passage`
- **2019-04-12** Record vote
- **2019-04-12** Statement(s) of vote recorded in Journal
- **2019-04-12** Reported engrossed
- **2019-04-15** Received from the House `introduction`
- **2019-04-16** Read first time `introduction, reading-1`
- **2019-04-16** Referred to State Affairs `referral-committee`
- **2019-05-09** Scheduled for public hearing on . . .
- **2019-05-09** Considered in public hearing
- **2019-05-10** Reported favorably w/o amendments `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2019-05-10** Recommended for local & uncontested calendar
- **2019-05-10** Committee report printed and distributed
- **2019-05-20** Placed on local & uncontested calendar
- **2019-05-20** Laid before the Senate
- **2019-05-20** Read 2nd time & passed to 3rd reading
- **2019-05-20** Vote recorded in Journal
- **2019-05-20** Three day rule suspended
- **2019-05-20** Record vote
- **2019-05-20** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2019-05-20** Passed `passage`
- **2019-05-20** Record vote
- **2019-05-21** Senate passage reported
- **2019-05-21** Reported enrolled
- **2019-05-22** Signed in the House
- **2019-05-24** Signed in the Senate
- **2019-05-24** Sent to the Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2019-06-10** Signed by the Governor `executive-signature`
- **2019-06-10** Effective on 9/1/19 `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/20255b5d-325a-4160-aad9-2bbf4ba2a275`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Texas legislature records).