Tag Archives: electronic voting machines

The Eastland County hand-counting situation

Posted on March 1, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

The other one to keep an eye on. Eastland County Republicans voted last fall to ditch electronic voting equipment and instead hand count all of their primary ballots. They’ll be using paper poll books to check in voters, and expect … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2026 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

The best-laid plans to hand-count ballots often go awry

Posted on February 23, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

Oh, Gillespie County. You rascals, you. Gillespie County Republicans have scrapped plans to hand count all of their 2026 primary ballots after failing to recruit enough workers — at least for early voting. The lack of manpower prompted party officials … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2026 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Dallas and Williamson forced to abandon voting centers for Primary Day

Posted on January 10, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

I have three things to say about this. In an about-face, Dallas County Republicans last week decided against hand-counting ballots in Texas’ March primary, saying they weren’t able to line up enough workers, among other hurdles. That leaves just two … Continue reading →

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Dallas County Republicans abandon hand count plan

Posted on January 3, 2026 by Charles Kuffner

Some unexpected sanity. After months of laying the groundwork to hand-count thousands of ballots in the March 3 primary, the Dallas County Republican Party announced on Tuesday it has decided not to do so, opting instead to contract with the county elections … Continue reading →

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The Dallas County GOP’s hand-counting debacle

Posted on December 11, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

This is going to be a disaster. Dallas County Republicans say they’re planning to go ahead with hand-counting tens of thousands of Election Day ballots cast in the upcoming March 3 primary after raising more than $400,000 towards the effort. … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2026 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Of course that DPRIT lawsuit filed by crackpots was done incorrectly

Posted on December 7, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

It’s more fun this way. If an Austin court hearing this week is an early indication of how a lawsuit blocking Texas’ $3 billion dementia research fund will fare, state leaders who championed it and the voters who overwhelmingly approved it by more … Continue reading →

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Another lawsuit filed against a constitutional amendment election

Posted on November 23, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Dan Patrick is mad about it. The state’s new $3 billion dementia research fund has been blocked temporarily by a trio of voters who claim voting machines used in this month’s election are faulty. The plaintiffs — Shannon Huggins, Lars … Continue reading →

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There’s more than one way to make voting harder

Posted on September 4, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

This is such a bad idea. After years of using a touchscreen machine to mark their ballots, voters in at least three Texas counties will be asked instead to make their selections directly on the paper ballots, by hand, starting … Continue reading →

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Bill to fix joint primary problem introduced

Posted on March 10, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Worth watching. What happened? Texas state senators Thursday held a public hearing on legislation crafted to update a 2023 law requiring certain counties to drastically increase the number of polling locations if they use vote centers for countywide voting. Last … Continue reading →

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Meanwhile, in Gillespie County…

Posted on May 21, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Bless their hearts. The hand count of thousands of Republican primary election ballots in Gillespie County is on track to cost taxpayers more than double the wage costs of the 2020 Republican primary, according to records obtained by Votebeat. Public … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2024 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Our one page ballot

Posted on February 19, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Good news. Harris County voters and election workers can look forward to one major improvement in the upcoming March primaries: the county’s lengthy ballot now fits on one piece of paper, rather than two. The change is due to a … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2024 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

More on why we need a split primary

Posted on January 27, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Votebeat fills in some blanks. Some Texas election officials are running out of time before the March 5 primary to find sufficient polling locations, equipment, and election workers mandated by a new Republican-backed election law, and may not be able … Continue reading →

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We will have a joint primary this year

Posted on January 16, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

This solves a problem we had only begun to realize we had. Harris County Republicans and Democrats plan to hold a joint election during the upcoming March primaries after years of the parties conducting separate contests, County Clerk Teneshia Hudspeth … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2024 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Apparently that challenge to the 2023 Constitutional amendment elections just went away

Posted on January 15, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

I’d been wondering about this. Legal challenges that threatened to upend Texas voter-approved property tax cuts and increases to retired teachers’ pensions appear to have been squashed by a coordinated effort between the governor, the attorney general and the secretary … Continue reading →

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One weird trick to make those election lawsuits go away

Posted on December 7, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

Worth a shot. Maybe it’ll work. State officials have apparently found a legal tactic to prevent a slew of election contest lawsuits from derailing the constitutional amendments that voters overwhelmingly approved in November. The state argued in court filings Tuesday … Continue reading →

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Apparently there’s a lawsuit challenging the 2023 constitutional amendment elections

Posted on December 2, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

I feel like I’m running out of synonyms for “deranged” and “absurd”. Lawsuits based on false claims about voting equipment could delay millions of dollars in cost of living increases for retired teachers expected to arrive in January. The lawsuits … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2023, Legal matters | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

The looming Kerr County election disaster

Posted on October 30, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

I have five things to say about this. Responsibility for running elections in Kerr County has shifted among three different people in the past two months. The first two officials bailed on the job after a months-long effort by one … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2024, The great state of Texas | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

A tale of two elections bills

Posted on May 28, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

The good news. Texas lawmakers have voted to reverse an expensive state law requiring election officials to replace all their current vote-counting equipment with technology that doesn’t exist. An unprecedented mandate the Legislature passed in 2021, without fully realizing its … Continue reading →

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Lege may fix one particularly dumb aspect of its omnibus voter suppression law

Posted on April 17, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

A small bit of progress. Texas lawmakers are trying to undo an expensive election problem they didn’t realize they had created in the first place. In 2021, they passed a law that is set to require counties to purchase vote-counting … Continue reading →

Posted in That's our Lege | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

The big voter suppression law is even worse than you thought

Posted on February 12, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

Such a lovely little surprise tucked in there. When state lawmakers passed a sweeping and controversial new election law in 2021, they quietly included a provision that drew little notice or debate. But election administration experts say the measure is … Continue reading →

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There were still ballots being counted yesterday

Posted on November 11, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

I think they’re done now? It’s hard to say for sure from the story. With more than 1.1 million ballots cast, Harris County on Thursday still was counting ballots from Tuesday’s election. The county filed a request for an extension … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2022 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

How voting machines work

Posted on October 28, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

A bit of public service from TPR that almost certainly won’t be read or believed by the people who need to see it. So how do the voting machines used in Texas elections actually work? First off, only two voting … Continue reading →

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The counting process

Posted on October 26, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

I don’t think I had seen this explained before. Harris County residents likely will have a long night waiting for election returns Nov. 8, according to county Elections Administrator Clifford Tatum. It takes around one minute for the county’s equipment to read a digital … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2022 | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

I think you know the root cause of the problem, John

Posted on October 11, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

I was fascinated by this Texas Monthly feature on Secretary of State John Scott, who is being pushed to reckon with the insane and dangerous levels of election denial and anti-democratic activism. I’m pretty sure he gets it, he just … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2022 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

The professional vote-deniers are out there

Posted on October 5, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

They’re probing the systems for weaknesses, a line that reminds me of the velociraptors in the original Jurassic Park. Except that the ‘raptors were sleek and efficient predators, while these guys are basically Pennywise with canned scripts and a huge … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2022 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

I wish I knew how to turn the heat down

Posted on September 24, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

But I do know that I’m not the responsible party for this crap. About a dozen activists demanding responses to conspiracy theories about election integrity this week disrupted what is typically an uneventful public testing of voting machines ahead of … Continue reading →

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Some ideas for improving elections in Harris County

Posted on July 8, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Put it on the new guy’s to do list. When Harris County’s new elections administrator starts the job next month, he will have less than three months to get ready before polls open on Oct. 24 for early voting in … Continue reading →

Posted in Local politics | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Maybe suing to stop the vote count isn’t the best way to get the vote counted

Posted on March 4, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Just a thought. The Harris County Elections Division released the final, unofficial primary elections results early Thursday, following a GOP petition to impound the records which stopped vote counts hours earlier. Citing malfunctions and a lack of testing of election … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2022 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Today is primary day

Posted on March 1, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Today’s the day! . ‼️ Tomorrow is Texas Primary Election Day! 👉 Be sure you are #VoterReady by downloading a sample ballot: http://harrisvotes.com/SampleBallot 📍 Pick from one of over 375 Polling locations at http://harrisvotes.com/PollLocations #YourVoteYourVoice #HarrisVotes — Harris County Elections … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2022 | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Just be glad you’re not a Republican primary voter in Potter County

Posted on December 17, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

This is, and I cannot stress this enough, batshit crazy. The Potter County Republican Party plans to conduct its own election during the Texas primary on March 1, independent of the county election administration. People voting in Republican races on … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2022 | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Meet your new voting machines

Posted on March 26, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Long time coming. Harris County’s new voting machine, which county leaders showed off on Wednesday, incorporates old and new technology the county election administrator says will make voting easier and boost public confidence in elections. The Hart InterCivic Verity Duo, … Continue reading →

Posted in Local politics | Tagged , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Commissioners Court approves funds for new voting machines

Posted on January 28, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Long awaited. Commissioners Court on Tuesday unanimously approved a $54 million deal to replace the current eSlate machines with ones featuring touch screens, a paper backup and features that make voting more accessible for seniors and residents with disabilities. The … Continue reading →

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A few words about election security

Posted on November 9, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Lisa Gray talks to my friend Dan Wallach about everybody’s favorite subject. If I’m aiming to steal an election, what’s the best way to go about it? Are mail-in ballots the easiest? If your goal is to steal an election, … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2020 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

The swan song for eSlate machines

Posted on October 7, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

We’re still using them for this election, as clunky and outdated as they are, but they’re on the way out. Harris County may shatter turnout records with as many as 1.5 million voters in this year’s presidential election, the county … Continue reading →

Posted in Local politics | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments