Last Friday, the Tarrant County Elections Office allowed members of the public to test their voting machines.
In what the office called an “unscripted test,” the public had the opportunity to vote in a mock election and watch the count. People were able to test both in-person and absentee ballots to ensure all 4,400 voting machines were functioning properly.
“This is a public test,” Tarrant County Elections Administrator Heider Garcia said. “It’s an event that the elections code requires, and it consists of making sure we cast ballots for every candidate in every race in every precinct in every machine.”
Members of the public were able to come to the elections office on Friday morning and cast a vote. The results are then printed and compared to a hand count to show people the votes are counted correctly.
“It’s a test of accuracy for the system,” said Tarrant County Elections administrator Heider Garcia. “I hope it just shows what we’ve been saying; you can’t alter the results of the election.”
“I’ve always said it’s important for people to understand that this is a system that they can verify by themselves that it’s doing what it’s supposed to do,” he said.
Garcia said he wants all 1.2 million eligible voters in Tarrant County to vote with complete confidence in the system.
“I think it’s a small group of people who don’t have confidence,” he said. “I think the vast majority of people in Tarrant County have confidence in the election system. It just bothers me to have the lingering question floating around, and I like to provide people with evidence and confidence.”
The Dallas County Elections Office is also allowing the public to see the county’s voting machines in its new vote center.
“We use this location as a kind of test facility. We let people come in and see how they can vote,” Communications Manager Nic Solorzano said. “They can put in one of our mock election ballots and roll through, see everything.”
Ahead of the upcoming election this November, anyone can make an appointment to see the voting machines here.