This outline summarizes Texas local option liquor election law as currently codified. We have made every effort to ensure the accuracy of this summary outline, but this material cannot substitute for the statutory source material and relevant interpretive case law and administrative regulations. All references are to the Texas Election Code (“the Code”) unless otherwise noted. References to a justice precinct mean a justice of the peace precinct, and references to a city are equivalent to a reference to “town” or “municipality.” References to the county clerk should be read as a reference to the entity that is tasked with running elections for the county, be it an elections administrator, tax assessor collector, or voter registrar. Article XVI, Section 20 of the Texas Constitution; Chapter 501, Texas Election Code; and Chapter 251, Texas Alcoholic Beverage Code are specific to local option liquor elections. For historical and public policy reasons, the procedures for these elections differ in many respects from the procedures applied to other voter-initiated elections. You should not extrapolate or apply the procedures explained here to any other type of petition-driven election.
|