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Amend CSSB 9 (senate committee report) by adding the following appropriately numbered SECTIONS to ARTICLE 1 of the bill and renumbering subsequent SECTIONS of ARTICLE 1 accordingly:
SECTION 1.___. Section 61.002, Election Code, is amended to read as follows:
Sec. 61.002. OPENING POLLING PLACE FOR VOTING. (a) Before opening the polls for voting, the presiding election judge shall confirm that each voting machine has any public counter reset to zero and shall print the tape that shows the counter was set to zero.
(b) Each election judge present shall sign a tape printed under Subsection (a). A representative from each political party required to nominate candidates by primary election, if present at the polling place, shall sign a tape printed under Subsection (a).
(c) The commissioners court of a county that participates in the countywide polling place program under Section 43.007 may apply to the secretary of state for a waiver of the requirements of Subsections (a) and (b) in a form prescribed by the secretary of state. If the secretary of state grants the waiver, Subsections (a) and (b) do not apply to the county for which the waiver was granted.
(d) A presiding election judge commits an offense if the judge is required to comply with Subsection (a) and fails to comply with the requirements of that subsection. An offense under this section is a Class B misdemeanor.
(e) At the official time for opening the polls for voting, an election officer shall open the polling place entrance and admit the voters.
SECTION 1.___. Section 65.014, Election Code, is amended by amending Subsection (c) and adding Subsections (c-1), (c-2), (c-3) and (c-4) to read as follows:
(c) The returns shall be prepared as an original and four [three] copies, and on completing the returns, the presiding judge shall sign each one to certify its accuracy.
(c-1) Any watcher present at the polling place must be allowed to inspect and sign each copy of the returns, and may request an additional copy to be printed for the watcher's records. The requirements of this subsection must be completed before any voting system equipment is removed from the polling place.
(c-2) The presiding judge shall publicly post at the polling place one of the copies printed under Subsection (c) before the presiding judge leaves the premises.
(c-3) The commissioners court of a county that participates in the countywide polling place program under Section 43.007 may apply to the secretary of state for a waiver of the requirements of Subsections (c-1) and (c-2) in a form prescribed by the secretary of state. If the secretary of state grants the waiver, Subsections (c-1) and (c-2) do not apply to the county for which the waiver was granted.
(c-4) A presiding judge commits an offense if the judge is required to comply with Subsection (c-1) and (c-2) and fails to comply with those subsections. An offense under this subsection is a Class B misdemeanor.