Amend HB 2909 (senate committee printing) by adding the following appropriately numbered SECTION to the bill and renumbering subsequent SECTIONS accordingly:
SECTION ___. 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 is certified by the United States Election Assistance Commission and the secretary of state on the date it is acquired and that uses or produces a paper ballot by which a voter can verify that the voter's selections are accurately reflected.
(b) Except as otherwise provided by this section, a voting system used in an election must be an auditable voting system.
(c) The paper record is the official record of the vote cast for a recount under Title 13.
(d) An authority that purchased a voting system other than an auditable voting system after September 1, 2014, and before September 1, 2019, may use available federal funding and, if federal funding is not available, available state funding to convert the purchased voting system into an auditable voting system in accordance with the following schedule:
(1) if the voting system was converted into an auditable voting system not later than the election taking place November 3, 2020, the authority is eligible to have 100 percent of the cost of conversion 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 converted into an auditable voting system not later than the election taking place November 5, 2024, the authority is eligible to have 50 percent of the cost of conversion reimbursed under this section.
(e) The secretary of state may use any available funds to assist an authority with the purchase of an auditable voting system if the funds have been appropriated for that purpose.
(f) Subsections (b) and (c) do not apply to an election held before September 1, 2024.
(g) A paper record generated by an auditable voting system may be used only for the purposes described by this section and may not be retained by the voter.
(h) Notwithstanding Subsection (b), a voter voting under Section 64.009 may use a voting machine that is not part of an auditable voting system as necessary to comply with that section.