The governing body of each county and city shall provide for the use of electronic voting or counting machines, of a kind approved by the State Board, at every precinct and for all elections held in the county, the city, or any part of the county or city.

Each county and city governing body shall purchase, lease, lease purchase, or otherwise acquire such machines and may provide for the payment therefor in the manner it deems proper. Systems of different kinds may be adopted for use and be used in different precincts of the same county or city, or within a precinct or precincts in a county or city, subject to the approval of the State Board.

On and after July 1, 2007, no county or city shall acquire any direct recording electronic machine (DRE) for use in elections in the county or city except as provided herein:

1. DREs acquired prior to July 1, 2007, may be used in elections in the county or city for the remainder of their useful life.

2. Any locality that acquired DREs prior to July 1, 2007, may acquire DREs on a temporary basis to conduct an election when the existing DRE inventory is insufficient to conduct the election because all or part of its inventory is under lock or seal as required by § 24.2-659.

3. Any locality may acquire DREs from another locality within the Commonwealth, from among their existing inventories, for the expressed purpose of providing accessible voting equipment as required by § 24.2-626.1. The local electoral board shall notify the State Board when acquiring any DRE under this provision and shall certify to the State Board that the DRE acquired under this provision is necessary to meet accessible voting requirements.

4. Any locality may modify its existing DREs to comply with federal or state law requirements to provide accessible voting equipment. Any modifications made to existing DREs must be authorized by the State Board of Elections prior to modification.

Code 1950, § 242-291; 1970, c. 462, § 24.1-203; 1971, Ex. Sess., c. 119; 1972, c. 620; 1974, c. 428; 1976, c. 616; 1982, c. 650; 1985, c. 458; 1987, c. 129; 1993, c. 641; 1996, c. 258; 2000, c. 280; 2007, cc. 939, 943; 2009, cc. 751, 759; 2010, cc. 356, 533; 2011, cc. 153, 447, 481; 2014, cc. 540, 576.