Amends TCA Title 2.

This bill revises and enacts the following provisions regarding elections: (1) Under present law, when a voter is to vote by voting machine, the voter must present the ballot application to the machine operator, enter the machine, and vote by marking the ballot and operating the machine. The machine operator must file the ballot applications in order of presentation and permit the voter to operate the machine for those elections in which the voter is entitled to vote. The machine operator must, upon demand of any voter before the voter enters the machine, tell the voter the order of the offices on the ballot and fully instruct the voter on how to operate the machine. Effective January 1, 2024, this bill deletes these provisions; (2) Effective upon this bill becoming law, and applicable beginning with the 2022 election, this bill provides the following: (A) A county election commission will be prohibited from using voting machines or ballot marking devices. Each county election commission must use hand-marked paper ballots, which must be counted using an optical ballot scanner; (B) A county election commission will be prohibited from selecting an optical scan ballot scanner that uses proprietary software. The software must be open to public inspection before and after the election; (C) If a county election commission cannot acquire the necessary equipment to implement the provisions of this item (2) before the 2022 elections, the county election commission may request the secretary of state for an extension to 2024 for compliance; and (D) This state will share in at least 50 percent of the cost of a county election commission complying with this item (2), subject to appropriations; (3) This bill authorizes poll watchers to take video of the proceedings at the polling place; and (4) This bill requires the coordinator of elections to prescribe security features that must be used on paper ballots. The security features may include watermarks, fluorescence, digital holograms, or any other technology that ensures the ballots cannot be duplicated. The coordinator of elections may change the ballot security features from election to election.