Two Austin organizations want to change what happens when Travis County voters cast their ballot this November.
The NAACP of Austin and the Texas Civil Rights project sued the state and Travis County over electronic voting machines.
The groups filed a request for a temporary injunction to make changes to the voting machines by the November elections.
E-Slate machines violate the state election code because they don't produce individual paper records of vote transactions, Texas Civil Rights Project Director Jim Harrington said.
"Twenty-seven states require there be a paper trail and Texas needs to do it," Harrington said.
Harrington argued his case with an analogy. If people can get a paper receipt for ATM transactions, voters should be able to do the same thing with their ballots, he said. During the last regular legislative session in 2005, members filed two House Bills and one Senate Bill to require a paper trail. None of the bills came up for a vote.
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Voting machines
A judge is considering whether receipts are required after voting electronically.
 
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"The legislature did not do it. Last session they had the chance to do it, but a few people who didn't like it, killed it. And that's why we're in court. We're trying to get the judge to speed up this process," Harrington said.
Harrington's organization sued the Texas Secretary of State's office and Travis County to make alterations to the E-Slate voting machines in time for the November elections. The groups want the county to add mechanisms to allow for paper receipts.
"That's what not ready for purchase. That's what's not available yet in the state of Texas through certification … and that's where we're running into a problem," Travis County Clerk Dana DeBeauvoir said.
Travis County attorneys said it would cost "millions" to change the current voting machines. They also expressed the county's concerns about time.
"It may be a good idea for the future. But it's not ready right now and certainly not in time for the November election," DeBeauvoir said.
Travis County does have a system in place to track votes by paper and by hand, DeBeauvoir said.
"A paper copy of every ballot, available after the election for recount purposes," DeBeauvoir said.
But Harrington believes a person's ballot can only be 100 percent secure when it's tangible.
District Court Judge Suzanne Covington said she was uncertain whether the courts have the right to order a change in voting machines.
She asked Harrington to turn in some examples of other lawsuits where electronic voting machines came under scrutiny. The hearing on the injunction will resume Tuesday afternoon.
