Can Secrecy of Texas Ballots Be Assured?

This week, the Texas House Elections Committee held a hearing regarding ballot security following allegations that the secrecy of Texas ballots can be compromised.

In an exclusive report published in May, Current Revolt claimed it had obtained a copy of former Texas Republican Party chair Matt Rinaldi’s ballot, highlighting flaws in the secrecy of Texas ballots. The ballot allegedly procured by the news outlet showed who Rinaldi purportedly voted for.

Soon afterward, Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson’s office issued emergency guidance on protecting ballot secrecy, advising election administrators via a memo to redact more voter-identifying information from publicly available records, as NBC 5 DFW reported.

During the hearing, the Texas House Elections Committee sought further information from the Secretary of State’s Office. Christina Adkins, the office’s elections director, said some people have claimed they can identify a voter’s ballot using publicly available records and an undisclosed algorithm, reported Texas Scorecard.

However, other experts testified at the hearing that ballots could be identified through a complex process of elimination, especially in precincts with low voter turnout.

“To get a summary here, with regard to the problem, what we have here are two routes. One is this algorithm, which we’re not sure is really a problem, and the second one is this process of elimination, which we know is a problem,” committee chair Rep. Reggie Smith (R-Van Alstyne)  said, per Texas Scorecard.

Despite the concerns, Adkins told the committee that the Secretary of State’s Office has not been able to replicate the claims of ballots being printed with the information that could link them to the voter, reported Texas Scorecard.

“More importantly, when we’re talking about our presidential election in November, voters can be assured that there are protections in place in Texas law,” Adkins said, per NBC 5.

Voter data analyst Derek Ryan told NBC 5 that a process does exist to link individual ballots to individual voters, but he said that it was tedious and very few people are equipped with the knowledge and technology to accomplish such a task.

“It’s an extremely big deal. Our country is founded on the idea that you can go into a polling location and cast a secret ballot,” said Ryan.

The Dallas Express reached out to the committee for comment but did not receive a response by publication.