There’s a new format for casting ballots, and Comal County wants to ensure registered voters get to know all about it.

Senate Bill 598, signed into law by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in June, now requires a paper component for elections balloting. Comal County is spending $1.6 million to upgrade its current system with scanners that convert and record votes in electronic systems.

County elections officials are staging a one-day open house titled “Learn About The Future of Voting in Comal County” from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday at the downtown elections office at 396 N. Seguin Ave. in New Braunfels. 

Representatives from Hart InterCivic, manufacturer of county elections machines, will demonstrate ballot conversions and answer questions, Elections Administrator Cynthia Jaqua said of the format, which gives people the opportunity to ask questions and come and go as they please.

“Hart will have representatives, experts who are geared to demonstrations, who will explain every facet of the procedure,” Jaqua said. “They will talk about security against voter fraud, and will do what they can to help people understand.”

Hart InterCivic

In December 2018 commissioners accepted an offer to exchange Hart’s eSlate balloting system for a new Verity system. The $1.42 million deal was approved after some Texas counties claimed eSlate machines inaccurately tallied votes in the previous two election cycles.

Comal County purchased 275 Verity machines that were easier to operate than eSlate’s dial selection format, which confused voters. The new machines were introduced for the Texas constitutional amendment election in November 2019.

The new paper component costs $1.611 million, “but the county will be reimbursed for 100% of the cost if we did it before 2022,” Jaqua said.

It adds another step for voters, whose ballots will be converted into paper through scanning devices. The county is in the process of retrofitting more than 200 machines with the new scanners, which will be used for the first time this November. 

2020 election

About 150 of the county’s new Verity voting machines were spread among 24 polling sites handling the county’s 29 voting precincts — now 32 precincts — but the county had its share of problems in November 2020 voting.

Server connections with KNOWiNK electronic poll pads, used to compare voter signatures on photo IDs and voter registration cards, hampered voter sign-ins at some voting sites on Election Day and workers had to manually qualify voters until connections resumed. Several Hart machines short-circuited at a Canyon Lake-area polling site during early voting, though all ballots were recovered and counted.

The 2020 election saw 76.04% of 116,077 registered county voters, which shattered previous turnout records. Jaqua said the county now has 120,220 voters and adding 100 more each day.

She said the elections office will have more staffers because “it will require more steps” for voters who might “walk away” not knowing what to do. 

Jaqua said it will require more room at the elections office to house the scanners and the special thermal paper they require.

“It will take about 350,000 sheets of paper just for the 2022 primaries and runoffs,” she estimated. “The scanners are huge and that paper is more expensive to purchase and store.”

First tests

“We always encourage people to be engaged in the elections process,” County Judge Sherman Krause said. “We’ve had a change in the way we cast the ballots, with the paper component, and this open house will give people the opportunity to become familiar with it before next year’s elections come up.”

Voters will have the first chance to use the new format Nov. 2 for the state’s constitutional amendment election and a number of local elections.

The New Braunfels and Comal independent school districts are expected to stage bond elections, with Comal ISD also looking at holding a voter-approval tax rate election. Emergency Services District No. 7 seeks to ratify a sales and use tax and the city of Schertz is also holding an election.

“There are four entities that are asking for new for elections in November, and there could be as many as seven,” Jaqua said.

For the record

While the new setup will be closer to providing a voter-verified paper record of votes cast, it will not offer voters receipts of how they voted.

“To make a comparison: Can you imagine using an ATM and then having no way to check if the bank recorded your transaction correctly? No receipt, no statement, no record whatsoever?” asked Gloria Meehan, the former county Democratic chair, after the county upgraded voting in 2018. “This is exactly the kind of ‘direct recording electronic voting device’ (DRE) we’ve used here in Comal County in the past several election cycles … and we’re getting the same.”

Jaqua said the Hart system touch screen results are scanned and recorded onto paper, where ballots with voting mistakes cannot be altered with a pen or pencil. 

“We give (the voter) a paper ballot to put into the printer and then it comes out,” Jaqua said. “They can review what they’ve done and if they see something wrong, they can state to the elections official that they want to redo their ballot. There cannot be a receipt because it’s against federal law to record how you voted.”

The League of Women Voters of the Comal Area is supporting the open house, which on Thursday will be decorated with its “2021 Your Vote Is For Me” poster contest winners.

“The LWV-Comal Area enthusiastically supports the Comal County Elections Office request to add the paper ballot component to the county voting equipment,” it said. “This addition of a voter-verified paper audit trail in election equipment can help detect and prevent cybersecurity breaches, creates an easily audited record and increases voter confidence in the electoral process. 

“We appreciate this open house, which will give voters an opportunity to become familiar with the equipment before encountering it at the polls. It empowers and educates voters.”