[Voterescue] Plan to offer paper ballots at early voting sites is rejected, Tarrant County

[Jenny Clark]

Lucky Tarrant County voters have a choice to use 
paper ballots on election day, but not in early 
voting...?

http://www.star-telegram.com/elections/story/441559.html

Plan to offer paper ballots at early voting sites is rejected
BY AMAN BATHEJA
STAR-TELEGRAM STAFF WRITER

County Commissioners rejected a plan Tuesday to 
let voters cast paper ballots at some early 
voting sites.
Commissioners voted 3-1 against the plan, with 
Commissioner Roy Brooks favoring it. Commissioner 
Gary Fickes, who was hospitalized this month for 
an undisclosed illness, was absent.

For the past several years, Tarrant County voters 
have had the choice of a machine or a paper 
ballot on Election Day. Early voters must use a 
machine.

During a lively 40-minute debate, supporters of 
paper ballots argued that distrust of electronic 
voting machines is lowering turnout and reducing 
confidence in the system.

Art Brender and Stephanie Klick, leaders of the 
county Democratic and Republican parties, 
respectively, had asked county Elections 
Administrator Steve Raborn to research the 
feasibility of providing an optional paper ballot 
at select early voting locations.

Raborn said that to make the plan work, election 
officials would have to outfit six of the 31 
early voting sites with preprinted ballots for 
all 638 precincts. Raborn said putting the plan 
into place for the March 4 primaries would be 
difficult and would cost about $45,000, an amount 
that could rise for future elections.
Local Democrats, including Brender and state Rep. 
Lon Burnam, D-Fort Worth, pleaded with 
commissioners to approve the plan.

"To not make the same opportunity available to 
those voting early in effect disenfranchises 
those who for whatever reason cannot or will not 
vote on Election Day," Brooks said.

Raborn and Klick said it would be risky to carry 
out such a plan so close to the Feb. 18 start of 
early voting.
"Implementing this so late in the process, I'm 
really concerned the wheels are going to fall off 
the train," Klick said.

Brender and Klick said they have heard from 
voters who don't believe that machine votes are 
counted properly. Both advise those voters to 
vote only on Election Day.

Klick noted that voters in Harris and Travis 
counties must cast ballots by machine regardless 
of when they vote. Tarrant County voters are 
lucky to have a choice on Election Day, she said.

Raborn looked at outfitting early voting 
locations with special printers that print out 
individualized ballots on demand as needed. The 
Texas secretary of state's office told Raborn 
that the use of such technology during early 
voting violates the Texas Election Code, Raborn 
said.

Raborn said county officials should take up the 
issue again once the election code is updated.

Registration deadline
Monday is the last day to register to vote in the 
March 4 primary. For information on how to 
register, call 817-831-8683 or go to 
www.sos.state.tx.us/elections.
What do you think? Comment on this report at star-telegram.com
AMAN BATHEJA, 817-390-7695
abatheja at star-telegram.com


Recent Comments
		I am a computer programmer. I 
consult for banks. Optical scan and...

		We need to go back to scantron 
paper ballots, so that there is...

		Cut and paste shill to boot

		Dennis Killy = shill for tarrant county commisioners

		Congratulations are in order 
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