Local Commissioners Court meetings are typically rather bland, but matters got spiced up in Collin County as election integrity was on the menu.
When I arrived at the Commissioners Court on August 19, shortly before 1:30 p.m., every seat inside the meeting room was taken, and security would only let people in if someone gave up their chair.
Collin County District Clerk Michael Gould allowed me to share space with him in the offshoot computer server room until a seat became available. Prior to public comments commencing, Citizens Defending Freedom of Collin County’s (CDF) Executive Director Tara Schulte gave up her chair for me.
As I entered the meeting room, I noticed as many citizens were seated inside the courtroom as standing in the lobby, close to 150 people. Approximately 50 concerned citizens spoke about election integrity during public comments.
“The overwhelming support we saw at this meeting demonstrates the community’s strong desire for transparency and trust in our electoral process,” stated Debbie Lindstrom, CDF Election Integrity Lead, in an August 23 press release.
Texas Sen. Bob Hall (District 2), who represents a portion of Collin, Dallas, and Ellis Counties and all of Kaufman, Navarro, Rockwall, and Van Zandt Counties, spoke first on election integrity.
Sen. Hall proposed revisions to enhance election security, including switching to hand-marked paper ballots that are numbered and signed, utilizing paper poll books, implementing a dome optical ballot tabulator that is non-software programmable, and using a write-once memory stick, and precinct-only voting.
Sen. Hall also recommended moving to a single, in-person voting period, meaning, “We start on one day and end on election day — that allows us to run the zero tape before the polls open on the first day and allows us to run the result tape at the precinct as soon as the polls close.”
Susan Fletcher was the most outspoken commissioner, appearing to position herself from a defensive stance.
Fletcher stated to Sen. Hall that his suggestions should be implemented at the legislative level to “make the whole state do it versus imposing on a county that I believe has had very fair elections. We have a very professional elections administrator who has done a great job … quite honestly, he’s had his integrity questioned enough … it’s a tragedy.”
Fletcher’s comments stirred the audience, but Collin County Judge Chris Hill regained control of the room.
Speakers continued to stress that they would like hand-marked paper ballots for the upcoming November election, and experts agree that this is the best system.
“Election security experts agree that the most resilient voting systems use paper ballots (marked by hand or with an assistive device for those who need to use them) that are verified by the voter before casting. Any system that does not include a paper record or a step for voter verification should not be used,” stated VerifiedVoting.
Additional points of concern related to election integrity brought forth by citizens included the following:
- Having three voting processes (early voting, election day, and mail-in ballot) offers too much room for error
- Electronic poll books are connected to the internet and can be manipulated
- Numerous electronic vulnerabilities (e.g., what happens is we lose power for several days?)
- Hackability of voting machines
- Errors with software and users of the software
- Absence of consistent, reliable accountability and transparency
- Lack of voter confidence in the authenticity of their vote (e.g., inability to verify their vote through barcode imaging)
State Republican Executive Committeewoman for SD12, Lisa Hendrickson, added to the collective voice: “It is amazing to me how cities and communities can find money for trees and parks and all kinds of lovely and miscellaneous things that don’t mean a hill of beans if we don’t have honest elections. The cost, lives, and the blood that has been spilled to make sure that we are the land of the free and home of the brave is priceless.”
“As long as you electronic machines that are software programmable, you’re going to have somebody that is going to find a way to beat the system,” emphasized Sen. Hall.
“We have support from one of our state senators who has joined us now for three hours to be here as part of this discussion. I’m grateful for that,” Judge Hill said about Sen. Hall. “We have the support of our grassroots who have been here throughout this conversation,” added Judge Hill, speaking of the CDF turnout.
Judge Hill listened to the people and responded in kind.
“We must have secure and accurate elections,” said Judge Hill. “Today, it is our turn for us to take our step in continuing to pursue election integrity….”
Judge Hill continued to outline Sen. Hall’s recommendations, stating the need for “using machine tabulators and then coming right behind that with verifying the ballots with human count. Now, we can’t do that under the state law today, but with a champion in our legislature, hopefully, we’ll get the ability that we can do that … we are required to validate a small number of ballots now, but to do that at a statistical sample that is valid for us, we need the ability to do more,” reiterated Judge Hill.
Due to feasibility constraints, a shift from hand counting to hand marking ballots evolved. Judge Hill thanked the grassroots for working with him “to really define what we are looking for and what we need to do.”
“With that in mind, I make a motion that we adopt hand-marked paper ballots for this November,” concluded Judge Hill.
However, the vote failed to align with the people’s voice, as none of the remaining elected officials on the Court came forward to second the motion.
The elected members of the Commissioners Court who voted against the people’s desired solution were Susan Fletcher (Precinct 1), Cheryl Williams (Precinct 2), Darrell Hale (Precinct 3), and Duncan Web (Precinct 4).
Williams attempted to blame Judge Hill for not putting the issue on the agenda earlier to allow time for potential action before the November elections, forgetting she had the leeway to initiate this herself.
“Had we had this on our agenda six, eight, nine months ago, Judge, we might have been able to move in this direction,” said Williams.
“I think the commissioner is forgetting that I’m not the only one that can put things on the agenda,” retorted Judge Hill.
Hale interjected, holding himself and the rest of the Court to a level of transparency and accountability: “We all could have put it on [the agenda] in that period of time… The ballot-marking device, I think we could have put it on earlier as well.”
Williams’s excuse only stirred the public’s prolonged dissatisfaction, as numerous speakers, including many present, have petitioned the Court regarding election integrity over the past two years to no avail, noted Lindstrom.
“Every vote is priceless,” said Tara Schulte, Executive Director of CDF-Collin, in the press release. “We will continue to advocate for measures that ensure the integrity and transparency of our elections.”
