(1) The Secretary of State shall have the authority to accept federal funds authorized under the Help America Vote Act of 2002 and to meet all the requirements of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 in order to expend the funds.

(2) Counties that purchase or have purchased since January 1, 2001, voting systems that comply with the requirements of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 shall be eligible for federal funds accepted by the Secretary of State for Help America Vote Act of 2002 compliance efforts. The only restriction that the Secretary of State may place on the expenditure of federal funds for the purchase of voting systems is that the systems comply with the criteria and rules established in the Help America Vote Act of 2002 for voting systems.

(3) Counties may purchase voting systems under the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA) if:

(a) The system selected is HAVA compliant as determined by the rules promulgated to effectuate the Help America Vote Act of 2002 in this state; and

(b) The County Board of Supervisors spreads upon its minutes a certification of the following:

(i) The county determined it is in its best interest to opt out of any statewide bulk purchase to be effectuated by the Secretary of State pursuant to his duties under HAVA;

(ii) The voting system selected by the county meets all of the foregoing requirements under HAVA;

(iii) The county understands and accepts any and all liability for said system; and

(iv) The county is solely responsible for the purchase of said system.

Upon meeting the foregoing requirements, a county shall be reimbursed for its costs for said system from the HAVA funds for this purpose; however, the county shall be limited in its reimbursement to an amount to be determined by the Secretary of State based upon an objective formula implemented for the statewide, bulk purchase of said voting systems. Any costs over and above the set formula described herein shall be the sole responsibility of the county.

(c) In addition to other information required by paragraph (b) of this subsection, any county that purchases voting systems after June 6, 2005 shall spread upon its minutes certification of the following:

(i) All voting systems within the county are the same, except those machines that are handicap accessible as required by HAVA; and

(ii) The voting systems have a device or mechanism that allows any votes cast to be verified by paper audit trail.