Texas taxpayers face a $100 million bill to update voting machines with equipment that doesn’t exist yet

Texas state lawmakers passed a broad and controversial new election law in 2021 that mandates the purchase of voting technology that does not currently exist. Sponsors of the new provision claim the legislation aims to prevent cheating in elections by preventing the use of certain technology to count votes and store cast-ballot data. The new law will go into effect prior to the November 2026 general election, immediately prohibiting the use of millions of dollars worth of voting equipment. With no new technology currently available, elections officials state-wide are concerned they will lack the tools necessary to deliver accurate and timely results. In order to comply with the new law, counties would be forced to either buy entirely new voting systems each election cycle, it will cost taxpayers over $116 million to replace the newly illegal equipment and an additional ongoing cost of $37 million every two years. However, counties may also be unable to buy any new technology, no company operating in the United States currently makes any voting machines that would comply with the Texas state law.





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