This section requires testing the recount program and equipment before an electronic recount proceeds, and it gives affected persons limited rights to inspect the program and test materials.
Sec. 214.046. TEST OF PROGRAM AND EQUIPMENT. (a) After the time set for beginning an electronic recount but before the recount is made, the recount tabulator shall conduct a test of the program and equipment in the same manner as the test that is conducted immediately before an original count of ballots for an election. Each person entitled to notice of the recount or the person's representative at the recount is entitled to examine the program and the test materials on request. (b) If the test is unsuccessful, the recount tabulator shall notify the recount committee chair, who shall notify the recount supervisor, and the supervisor shall investigate the cause of the test's failure. The electronic recount may not proceed until a test is successful on the equipment used for the first test or on other equipment selected by the supervisor. (c) If the recount supervisor determines that the program is defective, the supervisor shall inform the person requesting the recount or the person's agent. The person requesting the recount may notify the supervisor: (1) to have the ballots recounted manually; or (2) to attempt to correct the program so that an electronic recount may be conducted with the corrected program. (d) A recount using a corrected program may not be made unless the tabulation supervisor of the central counting station or the presiding election judge of the polling place at which the ballots were counted, as applicable, and the person who prepared the program sign a written statement indicating that the original program is defective. If the statement cannot be obtained, the recount supervisor shall have the ballots recounted manually. (e) If a recount using a corrected program is to be made, the original program shall be preserved without change and a complete new program shall be prepared. The original set of test materials shall also be preserved without change and a complete new set shall be prepared if the original set is unsuitable for testing the corrected program. (f) The recount supervisor shall obtain from the person who prepares a new program a signed statement that the program was prepared by the person, with the date of preparation and the person's address shown on the statement. The new program, the preparer's statement, and the test materials used for verification shall be preserved in a sealed container in the same manner and for the same period as the original program. (g) The costs of a recount under Subsection (c) may not be assessed against a person regardless of its outcome. If other precincts are included in the same recount document, the assessment of the costs in the other precincts shall be determined by the overall outcome in all precincts included in the document. Acts 1985, 69th Leg., ch. 211, Sec. 1, eff. Jan. 1, 1986. Amended by Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 864, Sec. 224, eff. Sept. 1, 1997.