Voting canvass yields positive results, no inaccuracies found
By Jessica Hawley - Bandera Bulletin   23 November 2005

Although much discussion was bandied about over whether or not a viable hand count was performed, the results from the Nov. 8 Constitutional Amendment Election reaped positive reactions from county officials.

"It was excellent," Bandera County Tax Assessor/Collector Mae Vion Meyer said during the Nov. 17 special session of Commissioners' Court. "It's just been a really good work effort between both parties and my office. I am actually unbelievably shocked."

Meyer said that the e-slates worked well for the elderly and other voters overall, granting a "three-fourths great" rating to the voting machines. Bandera County Precinct 4 Commissioner Doug King said that one 80-year-old voter who had never turned on a computer in her life commented on how easy it was. Precinct 3 Commissioner Richard Keese said that he registered no complaints, as well.

Doris Miller, who said she was speaking both as a voter and election judge, asked the court for written details regarding the system composed by the Hart representatives who sold the machines to the county. She proposed that they be stored in the library or other public entity to ensure easy accessibility for all voters.

"I agree with Doris," Meyer said. "We need to get this in our county records."

Critics continue to argue that the e-slates are programmable computers and remain subject to tampering, which could net fixed voting results. Miller questioned the seeming contradiction of manually counting electronic votes, noting the much-debated absence of a paper backup trail.

Chief Deputy of Elections Toba Perez said that each machine generated a cast-vote record, which was a synopsis of each ballot cast. She further explained that the state administration requires a recount spot-check after every election, choosing random boxes from each county. The state chose precincts 408, 409 and 410 on propositions 3, 5 and 9.

According to Perez, trained poll workers hand counted the cast vote records and no inaccuracies were found.

"The main thing is that the public has confidence in it," Keese said of the new electronic voting system.

King, a former election judge, said that, in the past, machines would inexplicably reject cast ballots. Sometimes, King recounted, people would scratch through or circle two candidates' names, leaving judges to wonder whom they were voting for.

"This machine takes that away," King said. "You know the intent of the voter."