By: Hughes, Creighton S.B. No. 1234
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to a requirement that a voting system use a paper record or
produce a paper receipt for verification purposes.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter A, Chapter 129, Election Code, is
amended by adding Section 129.003 to read as follows:
Sec. 129.003. PAPER AUDIT TRAIL REQUIRED. (a) In this
section, "auditable voting system" means a voting system that:
(1) uses a paper record; or
(2) produces a paper record by which a voter can verify
that the voter's ballot will be counted accurately.
(b) Except as provided by Subsection (e), a voting system
that consists of direct recording electronic voting machines may
not be used in an election unless the system is an auditable voting
system.
(c) Except for a recount under Title 13 or an election
contest under Title 14, the electronic vote is the official record
of the ballot. For a recount of ballots cast on a system involving
direct recording electronic voting machines, or in an election
contest, the paper record is the official record of the vote cast.
(d) An authority that purchased a voting system other than
an auditable voting system after September 1, 2016, and before
September 1, 2021, may use available federal funding and, if
federal funding is not available, available state funding to
retrofit the purchased voting system as an auditable voting system
in accordance with the following schedule:
(1) if the voting system was retrofitted as an
auditable voting system not later than the election taking place
November 8, 2022, the authority is eligible to have 100 percent of
the cost of retrofitting reimbursed under this section; and
(2) if the authority is not eligible for a 100 percent
reimbursement of cost under Subdivision (1) and the voting system
was retrofitted as an auditable voting system not later than the
election taking place November 3, 2026, the authority is eligible
to have 50 percent of the cost of retrofitting reimbursed under this
section.
(e) Subsections (a)-(c) do not apply to an election held
before September 1, 2026.
SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2021.