By Scott F. Netherland
The hand count advocates in Gillespie County surfaced following the November 2020 Presidential Election when President Trump lost. There was widespread speculation about election fraud in swing states and a feeling something must be done to secure the vote.
President Trump’s legal efforts to challenge the election results did not change the outcome. Was there voter fraud in certain states resulting in a lost election? Possibly, and in my opinion, improper use of and accountability of mail-in ballots may have been at the root of most voter fraud. But if that did occur, it did not occur in Texas, or in Gillespie County where President Trump won approximately 80 percent of the vote.
Nevertheless, there were those who felt we had to do something to make the vote more secure, and the notion surfaced to hand count our elections and not use any automation.
The rationale behind hand counting largely focused on the concept of voter transparency — presuming that hand counting was more transparent than using the scanner to tally the votes. True election integrity and accurate reporting of voters’ intent should be our highest calling.
The proponents of hand counting do not want any automation involved in running our elections, meaning that we should not use the Electronic Poll Pad for voter check-in, and we should not use the scanner to tally our votes.
Checking in
So, let’s address the check-in process. If we do not use the Electronic Poll Pad, an automated process to look up a voter registration status, we must use a paper Poll Book. Please understand that the paper Poll Book is simply a printed copy of the automated voter registration database. It is the same list of registered voters.
However, the Electronic Poll Pad is connected to the County’s secure Intranet (NOT the INTERNET) and voter check-ins are reported to the Elections Administration Office and the other Poll Pads in the county every three minutes. For example if someone votes in the Democrat Primary, and later decides to vote in the Republican Primary, the Poll Pad will notify the election clerk that the voter has already voted.
In the 2024 Primary election, three people voted twice by voting in both party primaries which would NOT have been possible if we were using the Electronic Poll Pads. In other words, the Electronic Poll Pad provides more of a safeguard against voter fraud.
Furthermore, use of the Electronic Poll Pads to scan the voter’s driver’s license (or entering their name on the poll pad manually) automatically looks up the voter registration record and validates if they are properly registered to vote.
By contrast, when using the Poll Book, the election clerk must page through the Poll Book to locate the voters registration status, then write out the voter’s name and Voter Unique ID number (VUID), and the voter must sign a Combination Form to complete their check in. This is a much more cumbersome and time-consuming process than the automated look up.
Note: The hand count advocates point to an anomaly that occurred in Dallas County using Electronic Poll Pads. After the polls were closed, election clerks noticed the number of voter check-ins continued to increase on their Poll Pads. This would absolutely cause concern if you did not know the cause. In Dallas County, they use “County-Wide Voting” where a voter can go to any election station to vote, meaning they do not have to vote in their assigned precinct. Therefore, all Poll Pads have the county-wide database for all voters in the county rather than being limited to only those registered voters in the precinct.
According to the Dallas County Election Administrator, there was a backup in the server causing delayed reporting, but not bogus voter check-ins being reported. Dallas also used a different provider of Poll Pad equipment (ES&S) and they have since switched to the same provider we use (Knowink).
Counting ballots
Once the voter’s registration is verified, the voter is then issued a paper ballot, and they go to the voting booth where they mark their ballot with an ink pen. We do not use an automated Ballot Marking Device like some other locations. We use a pen and ink to mark a paper ballot.
If using the scanner, the voter then inserts their ballot into the scanner which reads the ballot and records the vote. If there is an overvote (meaning that the voter inadvertently or unknowingly made a mark for more than one candidate in a race), or an unmarked side of the ballot (undervote), the scanner will detect an anomaly and reject the ballot, notifying the voter of a problem on the ballot.
The voter then has the option to correct their own ballot or can spoil their ballot and get a new one issued. The voter then gets to mark the ballot reflecting their desire for the candidate or measure they want.
Note: If hand counting, the voter’s ballot goes in the ballot box without being checked for errors. The hand count team and judge must then determine the voter’s intent on that race, NOT the voter!
Not online
Advocates of hand counting do not trust the scanner simply because it is a machine. Here is where more information should alleviate any concern over the scanner.
The scanner is a dumb scanner — like a mark sense recorder that only records how the voter has voted. It is NOT online, there is no modem, and it cannot be accessed by an outside party.
Each scanner is programmed for the specific election by the Hart Intercivic personnel using a flash drive. There is literally an air-gap and it is NOT programmed over the internet!
After programming, the Elections Administration Office conducts a Logic and Accuracy (L&A) test by running marked sample ballots to confirm that it records the election results, as marked. The Logic and Accuracy test is open to the public providing transparency to anyone who wishes to observe the test.
After the L&A test, the scanners are locked away and not brought out until being issued to the election judges for the election.
Mandated manual recount
Another key distinction to make is that following a scanner count of the election, by law, there must be a partial manual count that serves as an audit of the scanner results. This partial manual count gives voters confidence in knowing the scanner accurately tabulated the vote.
With a hand count election, there is NO audit. You simply take the word of the hand count team and election judge that all ballots were properly counted.
In the 2024 Republican primary, we discovered there were numerous errors in reporting the hand counted election results. These errors were not identified by an audit.
One Precinct Chairman (Election Judge) reviewed his Precinct Report the day after the election and noticed a discrepancy between the total number of votes reported in each race to the total number of ballots issued.
After admitting this error to the County Chairman and Elections Administrator, all Election Judges were called in to review their Precinct Reports. It was then discovered that election results were inaccurately reported in 12 of the 13 precincts with 952 known mistakes, and approximately 450 known mistakes with the Early Voting Ballot Board made by hand counters and election judges.
All of this is to say that human error in hand counting is a far greater possibility than scanner results.
Additional cost
Lastly, the level of effort (manpower) and expense to conduct a hand count far exceeds the cost than using the automated election equipment. In the upcoming Republican primary, the projected costs for normal election clerks is $8,379 and the projected cost for the addition of hand counters is $28,730, almost 3.5 times in additional costs to run the election. The result being a higher cost in manpower and funding to run an election that offers less Election Integrity than the use of automation to help.
Those advocating for the hand count are not evil people. Their hearts are in the right place wanting to ensure election integrity.
But moving away from the State of Texas and Gillespie County approved automation systems is a big step backwards and the result is a less secure election.
Scott F. Netherland is the Precinct 6 Chairman and Deputy Early Voting Clerk.
