1. (a) The clerks for the general election for state and county officers or for a special election to fill a vacancy in an office regularly filled at the general election shall be selected from different political parties if possible.
2. (b) The county chair of a political party whose candidate for governor received the highest or second highest number of votes in the county in the most recent gubernatorial general election may, not later than the 25th day before a general election or the 10th day before a special election to which Subsection (a) applies, submit to a presiding judge a list containing the names of at least two persons who are eligible for appointment as a clerk. If a timely list is submitted, the presiding judge shall appoint at least one clerk from the list, except as provided by Subsection (c).
3. (c) If only one additional clerk is to be appointed for an election in which the alternate presiding judge will serve as a clerk, the clerk shall be appointed from the list of a political party with which neither the presiding judge nor the alternate judge is affiliated or aligned, if such a list is submitted. If two such lists are submitted, the presiding judge shall decide from which list the appointment will be made. If such a list is not submitted, the presiding judge is not required to make an appointment from any list.
4. (d) The presiding judge shall make an appointment under this section not later than the fifth day after the date the judge receives the list and shall deliver written notification of the appointment to the appropriate county chair.

Acts 1985, 69th Leg., ch. 211, Sec. 1, eff. Jan. 1, 1986.

Amended by Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 864, Sec. 24, eff. Sept. 1, 1997.