(a) On or before the close of business on January 8, 2010, for the 2010 primary and general election, and on or before the close of business on July 30, 2010, for the 2010 general election only, any county interested in participating in the pilot program must submit a proposal to the Secretary of State. The proposal shall include:

(1) The name of the vendor or vendors, if any, whose voting system will be implemented for voting by uniformed military and overseas citizen voters;

(2) The anticipated cost to the county of implementing the proposal;

(3) The manner in which the voting system complies with the provisions of section four of this article; and

(4) An option for the voter to choose not to vote using the pilot voting system, but rather by mail, fax or e-mail at the voter's discretion as provided in sections five and five-b, article three, chapter three of this code.

(b) The Secretary of State shall evaluate each proposal and shall approve those proposals which meet the criteria described in section four of this article.

(c) On or before January 29, 2010, for the 2010 primary and general election, and on or before August 13, 2010, for the 2010 general election only, each county that has submitted a proposal shall be notified by the Secretary of State that the application has either been approved or denied.

(d) Any county that applied by January 8, 2010, and was approved by the Secretary of State is considered approved for program participation in both the 2010 primary election and 2010 general election.

(e) Following the primary election, the secretary shall evaluate the functional effectiveness of pilot programs conducted under this article and shall terminate any program that fails to adequately and securely ensure that absent uniformed services voters and overseas voters have their absentee ballots cast and counted in the primary election.

(f) Ninety days following the 2010 primary election and ninety days following the 2010 general election, the secretary shall submit to the Legislature reports on the progress and outcomes of any pilot program conducted under this article, together with recommendations:

(1) For the conduct of additional pilot programs; and

(2) For such other legislation as the secretary determines appropriate.