| |
|
|
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
|
|
|
AN ACT
|
|
|
relating to the use of direct recording electronic voting machines. |
|
|
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
|
|
SECTION 1. Chapter 129, Election Code, is amended by adding |
|
|
Section 129.002 to read as follows: |
|
|
Sec. 129.002. VOTER-VERIFIED PERMANENT PAPER RECORD. (a) |
|
|
A voting system that consists of direct recording electronic voting |
|
|
machines may not be used in an election unless the system: |
|
|
(1) creates a contemporaneous auditable paper record |
|
|
of each electronic ballot; and |
|
|
(2) has: |
|
|
(A) been certified or otherwise approved by means |
|
|
of qualification testing by a nationally recognized test |
|
|
laboratory; and |
|
|
(B) met or exceeded the minimum requirements |
|
|
contained in "Performance and Test Standards for Punch Card, Mark |
|
|
Sense, and Direct Recording Electronic Voting Systems" or a |
|
|
successor voluntary standards document developed and adopted by the |
|
|
Federal Election Commission, the Election Assistance Commission, |
|
|
or the National Institute of Standards and Technology. |
|
|
(b) The system must allow a voter to: |
|
|
(1) inspect and verify the paper record through both a |
|
|
visual and a nonvisual method, such as through an audio component, |
|
|
before the voter's ballot is recorded electronically; and |
|
|
(2) make changes to the voter's electronic ballot |
|
|
after reviewing the paper record. |
|
|
(c) The paper record must list the contests on the ballot |
|
|
and the voter's choices in those contests. |
|
|
(d) If the voter makes changes under Subsection (b)(2), the |
|
|
system must invalidate the paper record that the voter reviewed and |
|
|
generate a new paper record corresponding to the changed vote. The |
|
|
new paper record must be reviewed by the voter in the manner |
|
|
provided by Subsection (b). |
|
|
(e) If the voter verifies that the paper record is correct, |
|
|
the system shall record the voter's electronic vote and preserve |
|
|
the paper records at the polling place in the same manner as paper |
|
|
ballots are preserved to ensure that the paper records may be used |
|
|
in a manual audit or recount. |
|
|
(f) Except for a recount under Title 13, 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, |
|
|
the paper record is the official record of the vote cast. The paper |
|
|
record may be used for a manual audit of the system and shall be |
|
|
preserved in the same manner as other paper records in an election. |
|
|
(g) A system involving direct recording electronic voting |
|
|
machines that was acquired before January 1, 2008, may be used in an |
|
|
election without meeting the requirements of this section only if: |
|
|
(1) a voter has the option of casting a paper ballot |
|
|
instead of using the machine; |
|
|
(2) a permanent record of each ballot is created at the |
|
|
time the ballot is cast or during the local canvass of the votes; |
|
|
(3) the system is subject to parallel monitoring; and |
|
|
(4) at least 46 days before the date the system is to |
|
|
be used for voting, the authority responsible for holding the |
|
|
election submits a technical security plan for the system to the |
|
|
secretary of state. |
|
|
SECTION 2. This Act takes effect January 1, 2008. |