Texas can certify voter verified paper trail systems now

Robert Pratt photo Copyright Pratt on Texas

Robert Pratt

With all the talk of poor confidence in electronic voting systems, Governor Greg Abbott tweeted that what we’ve always called a voter verified paper trail is “a great idea and we are considering it as an election reform measure.”

In a story noting that since the imposition of the federal Help America Vote Act, HAVA, which drove us all to the newer style voting machines, the Texas Tribune noted: “Over the last decade, several Texas lawmakers have filed bills to require paper trails on electronic voting machine. The proposals often include adding a printer in a sealed case to the state’s electronic voting machines so voters could check their votes against the receipt.”

None of these bills to require a voter verified paper trail has passed.

The Tribune story also included this: “Alicia Pierce, a spokeswoman for the Secretary of State’s office, which oversees elections, said adding paper trail backups to voting machines wouldn’t be something her office could decide to do on its own.”

Let me set the record straight: The state office of elections can certify for use in Texas a voter verified paper trail right now.

Governor Abbott says it’s an “idea” to “consider” and the state elections office pretends that they are powerless in the matter.

Let me set the record straight: The state office of elections can certify for use in Texas a voter verified paper trail right now. Those folk could have done so a dozen years ago. I know, I was in the meetings in Austin with then Secretary of State Williams.

Granted the office can’t mandate the use of such but it could certify systems so that counties could choose to use them. But, as was clearly expressed when we moved to the new machines, the elections folk don’t want us having the paper trail and have opposed such to legislators behind the scenes.

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