Texas
In one Texas county, elections officials shoulder new costs and burdens to appease skeptics
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In Brazos County, suspicions about elections burst into the open last fall, just weeks after a visit from an out-of-state group calling for ballots to be hand-counted.
“Everything seems great. But if you study this, you’ll find that it’s possible to pre-program electronic voting machines and make it do whatever you want,” one resident said at a commissioners court meeting last November, without evidence to support the claims.
“Ever since these machines came along, I’ve heard nothing but accusations of fraud,” said another resident. “I am asking you to investigate. Something was wrong in the 2020 election. Voting machines do only what they’re programmed to do.”
Similar comments continued to pour in for months — at meetings, in emails to county officials, and through public record requests to the county elections department — from people who insisted that the best answer is for counties to ditch voting equipment altogether and to hand count ballots.
County leaders and election officials have since repeatedly tried to assure residents that elections in Brazos are safe and accurate. They’ve invited skeptics to help recount ballots themselves. They’re spending more money and investing more time to accommodate the residents’ demands for changes, even if they think the changes won’t make elections any more secure.
Still, in Brazos, as in other counties, election officials foresee no end to the demands from far-right activists who allege that Texas elections are tainted by fraud, even as the Republican candidates they favor win a lot of them.
So officials continue to work with the concerned citizens, and shoulder new costs, to head off what they see as the even bigger burden of a mandatory hand count.
In Brazos, the latest attempt to appease proponents of hand counts will cost the county an additional $14,000 for the November election, a recurring expense that will grow over time, said county Elections Administrator Trudy Hancock.
The cost is for a special kind of ballot paper that comes preprinted with sequential serial numbers, starting with 1. Voting fraud activists have demanded this kind of paper for years, arguing that it would help officials detect and prevent double-voting.
Such instances of fraud are rare, and Texas already has systems in place to prevent it.
Experts say the preprinted numbering could threaten voters’ ballot secrecy, so Brazos election officials will have to take even more steps to secure the vote.
And with the preprinted paper, surplus stock cannot be used in later elections, Hancock said. So in the long run, it’ll likely end up costing the county more.
“Say that we have 20,000 pieces of paper that we don’t use, you have to add the total cost of that 20,000 pieces of paper,” Hancock said. “We cannot reuse it. We’d have to store that paper for 22 months and then shred it. It’s useless.”
Misinformation affects push for hand counts
Brazos County, home to College Station and Texas A&M University, has about 128,000 registered voters. Election officials here are among several across the state who have heard demands from far-right activists to switch from electronic voting equipment to hand-counting, a method that has been proven to be less accurate, more costly, and far less secure than electronic tabulating machines.
In some cases, the activists have prevailed over objections from county leaders. In the Texas Hill Country, Gillespie County Republicans hand counted ballots during the March 5 primary and kept finding errors in vote aggregations.
In Brazos, the movement grew after a group of election conspiracy theorists came to town questioning the validity of electronic voting equipment and promoting hand counts. At a public event, which made the rounds across Texas counties last year, speakers promoted their ideas based on election misinformation.
Some Republicans began to echo those concerns at commissioner court meetings. In October, the county commissioners sat through a presentation by Brazos resident Walter Daughterity, a retired computer science professor at Texas A&M University and ally of election conspiracy theorist Mike Lindell. Daughterity falsely claimed Brazos’ voting machines are connected to the internet and that the equipment is not certified by federal officials. Daughterity proposed shuttering the electronic voting equipment and to hand count ballots instead.
Daughterity did not respond to Votebeat’s questions about whether he has any experience working or administering elections in Brazos or anywhere else. Instead he linked to his “expert witness declarations’’ in the lawsuit filed by failed Arizona GOP gubernatorial candidate, Kari Lake. Trial and appellate courts in Arizona have dismissed her claims of election malfeasance.
At Daughterity’s presentation, Brazos County Judge Duane Peters, defended the county’s voting system and assured those who attended that it is certified, citing approval to use it from the Texas secretary of state. Peters, a Republican, has been a leader in Brazos County for over a decade.
Brazos County commissioners never considered a formal measure to ditch the county’s voting equipment and adopt hand counting. After the November election, however, the county expanded its state-mandated partial manual counts in response to the concerns of some residents, including Daughterity.
Done after each election, the partial manual count is a hand count of races from either 1% of a county’s precincts or three precincts — whichever is greater — to verify the accuracy of the results tabulated by the voting equipment. The Texas Secretary of State’s Office designates which races and precincts must be hand counted and then notifies county election officials.
Hancock said some residents didn’t like that state officials choose which races and precincts are to be hand counted.
“Their theory is that at the state level, they know in which precincts we have altered the numbers,” Hancock said. “So they think that since the state knows that, that they wouldn’t send us those locations to count.”
So Hancock asked secretary of state officials for approval to have county election officials randomly select additional precincts to be hand counted. The secretary of state’s office agreed, and the county hand counted three additional precincts. The process, which had no discrepancies and showed the vote was accurate, was livestreamed on the county’s elections website.
After the March primary election, Hancock went a step further. She invited representatives from each party to conduct the post-election audit themselves. Among the Republicans who participated were some of the most vocal election skeptics.
It took the groups of Republican and Democrats an entire day to count more than 1,400 ballots. No discrepancies were found, and the count showed the machines’ results were accurate.
Brazos County Republican Party officials did not respond to a request for comment and did not answer questions about their participation in the count.
Dispute over how ballot paper is numbered
The other concession by Brazos officials, to spend resources on preprinted sequentially numbered ballots, is the latest episode in a yearslong dispute between Texas election officials and voter fraud activists.
By law, ballots used in Texas must be sequentially numbered starting with 1, and distributed to polling places in batches so that “a specific range can be linked to a specific polling place.”
The law also says that ballots at a polling place “must be distributed to voters non-sequentially in order to preserve ballot secrecy.”
How counties across the state comply with these rules depends on the type of voting equipment they use. For instance, some counties, including Brazos, purchase blank ballot paper that voters insert into a touch-screen voting machine called a ballot marking device at the polling place. Once the voter is done making their candidate selections, the device prints the voter’s ballot with a randomized number to preserve ballot secrecy.
The Texas secretary of state and the Texas attorney general have both clarified that this randomized numbering complies with the law. But voting fraud activists dispute this and continue to falsely claim that the randomly numbered ballots produced by the ballot marking devices cannot be audited.
Election administrators in Texas have the authority to decide the ballot-numbering method. In Hood County, tensions with voter fraud activists in 2021 over ballot numbering drove the elections administrator to resign. The county eventually purchased sequentially numbered ballot paper under a new elections administrator. The administrator did not respond to Votebeat’s questions about whether the new ballots helped restore trust in the process.
Activists have also made these calls for sequentially numbered ballots in Tarrant County. County Judge Tim O’Hare, whose administration created an election integrity task force despite the lack of evidence of widespread voter fraud, said sequentially numbered ballots would “make the election more secure, create more trust in the outcome, and serve as a deterrent against fraud.” The county recently approved spending more than $30,000 on the sequentially numbered ballots for the November election.
The type of paper required is more costly because it isn’t easily found off the shelf. It is custom printed by voting machine vendors. Additionally, counties have to order more paper than they typically would, to prevent a shortage or account for paper jams at polling locations. Election workers in Brazos will go through additional training to ensure they randomize and shuffle the ballots at the polling place to protect ballot secrecy as directed by state law.
In nations with high levels of fraud, sequentially numbered ballots can be helpful because officials can match the number to a voter and check whether that person voted already or not.
In the United States, election departments have voter registration databases, voter histories, and other practices in place that help ensure that each voter is only casting one ballot, said Mitchell Brown, a political science professor at Auburn University and an expert on election administration.
“What we track is who votes, not how they vote,” Brown said. “In some places, it’s a good government measure, and other places it is not. So the context of how [numbered ballots] are used, and why they’re being used really matters.”
In Brazos, Peters, the county judge, is certain this latest move to try to appease the election skeptics in the county “won’t prove anything.”
“It’s a compromise,” Peters told Votebeat. “I know they say they’re concerned about the elections… . My concern was that if we totally changed the way we do elections [by adopting hand counting] that it was going to fail and that we were going to have people who wouldn’t know what they’re doing.”
Hancock, who has been the county’s elections director since 2015 and has worked elections in Texas for more than two decades, said it’s quite possible that her efforts may never satisfy the activists. She only hopes she can prevent the spread of misinformation in Brazos. She wants voters to see that her office is “doing everything that we can to ensure that a person’s ballot is cast in a secure manner and counted the way that they intend for it to be counted.”
“So if I can add a few more hours to my day or whatever to help those people have confidence in what we do for voters,” she said, “then I’m happy to do that.”
Natalia Contreras covers election administration and voting access for Votebeat in partnership with the Texas Tribune. Natalia is based in Corpus Christi. Contact her at ncontreras@votebeat.org.
Disclosure: Texas A&M University and Texas Secretary of State have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete list of them here.
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Texas
Tornadoes hit parts of Texas, more severe weather in weekend forecast
Texas tornado caught on camera by storm chaser
A tornado was caught on camera in Hawley, Texas, by a storm chaser showing an up-close look of the debris field.
Fox – 4 News
Multiple tornadoes hit Texas on Thursday near Abilene, including one in Hawley that was caught on camera by storm chaser Russ Contreras.
“We’ve had multiple confirmed tornadoes this evening,” said the National Weather Service office in San Angelo on X Thursday evening. “Please stay weather aware and make sure you have a way to receive warnings!” The weather service also posted a map showing where the tornadoes hit.
The Hawley Independent School District said in a statement on Facebook that the “Hawley community has been hit pretty hard and we have several families that have lost homes.” The district said that while the school seems to have been spared major damage, there is “pretty substantial” flooding on the grounds.
The district also said that Friday will be a flex day for students, meaning the school will be open and on regular schedule for students that can attend, however attendance is not mandatory and will not be taken.
Photos of the Hawley, Texas tornado
San Jacinto River evacuation order
In the southeast portion of the state, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo on Thursday issued a disaster declaration and a mandatory evacuation for residents on the East Fork of the San Jacinto River in Houston during a news conference.
Hidalgo said residents must evacuate their homes because of high water risk and that they should leave as soon as possible. Officials said that section of the San Jacinto River is nearing 78 feet above sea level, which is about three feet below Hurricane Harvey water levels.
Some 24-hour rainfall totals exceeded seven inches in the region, reports FOX Weather, with storm totals over the past few days nearing about a foot.
Texas weather forecast for Friday and the weekend
The National Weather Service office in San Angelo said that severe weather potential continues in the area Friday with a marginal to slight risk of severe storms in the afternoon and evening.
“Large hail, damaging winds and even a tornado will again be possible,” the NWS said.
As for Saturday, the weather service said more widespread thunderstorms during the day and night will lead to “a chance for heavy rainfall across portions of West Central Texas, mainly across the Big Country and the Heartland.”
The NWS says the rainfall could be heavy enough to cause flash flooding of streets, creeks, streams, and other low-lying areas. Additionally, storms Saturday will pose the “greatest risk for very large hail greater than 2 inches in diameter.”
A Flood Watch is in effect in the Houston-Galveston area through Friday, with flooding being especially hazardous at night, the NWS said.
“Scattered to numerous showers and thunderstorms continue today, mainly north of I-10 and east of I-45,” the NWS said Friday morning. “Heavy rainfall potential exists and could result in flash flooding. A few storms may become strong to severe with hail and strong gusts as the main risks,” the NWS said.
Texas severe weather watches and warnings
Here’s a look at a map of the watches and warnings across the state.
Texas power outage map
Nearly 30,000 power outages have been reported across Texas as of 6:40 a.m. local time Friday, according to a USA TODAY power outage tracker, including over 12,000 in Harris County.
Gabe Hauari is a national trending news reporter at USA TODAY. You can follow him on X @GabeHauari or email him at Gdhauari@gannett.com.
Texas
West Texas A&M Lady Buffs take down Texas A&M – Kingsville to advance in LSC tournament
CANYON, Texas (KFDA) – The West Texas A&M Lady Buffs took down Texas A&M – Kingsville on Thursday night in the first round of the LSC tournament.
The Lady Buffs scored five of their eight runs on the game in the second and third innings, taking a commanding lead on the tournament’s eight seed.
A sacrifice fly from Gabriella Valforte and a sacrifice bunt from Heaven Moreno got the run scoring started and put West Texas A&M up 2-0.
That lead ballooned to 4-0 after an RBI double from Diana Murtha and an RBI single from Valforte in the third. Murtha and Valforte then executed a double steal on the base paths to plate another run for the Lady Buffs.
Texas A&M – Kingsville managed two runs in the fifth off an RBI single from Kayla Gonzales, but it wasn’t enough as WT took home the 8-2 victory.
In the circle, West Texas A&M star pitcher Emilee Boyer pitched a gem with six strikeouts and only three hits allowed.
The Lady Buffs will play their next game at 6:30 p.m. on Friday. It will be a matchup with the winner of St. Mary’s and Oklahoma Christian, which will be played earlier on Friday at 2:30 p.m.
Copyright 2024 KFDA. All rights reserved.
Texas
Students learn about strawberries through Farm From School – Texas Farm Bureau
By Shelby Shank
Field Editor
Texas students learned about strawberries through Texas Farm Bureau’s (TFB) Farm From School program.
Kindergarten through fifth-grade students across the Lone Star State virtually “meet” with a farmer or rancher once a month through Farm From School on a video conferencing app.
This month, Kylie Demases, a farmer in Pilot Point, gave students a tour of Pecan Creek Strawberry Farm and taught them all about strawberries.
“Texas students tuned into our April Farm From School visit to learn all about strawberries from Kylie,” Jordan Bartels, TFB associate director Organization Division, Educational Outreach, said. “Students asked Kylie many questions about growing and picking strawberries.”
During the 30-minute virtual session, Demases discussed how strawberries are grown, different strawberry varieties on their farm and taught students how to pick the best strawberries.
Demases has 90,000 strawberry plants on her farm that were planted by hand in two days.
“We plant strawberries in the fall because they like the cooler weather. A strawberry plant can handle the cold all the way down to zero degrees,” Demases said. “Once it’s above 90 degrees, the plant stops producing any more blooms because it’s too hot.”
Demases explained to students the different stages of growth for a strawberry. The berry’s first stage starts with a flower-like bloom. Over 28 days, the strawberry transforms from a flower to the familiar red, ripe fruit enjoyed by many.
A single plant can have multiple berries growing on it at different stages.
“Similar to how your elementary school is filled with different grade levels, a strawberry plant can have different berries at different stages on it,” Demases said.
Students asked many questions about strawberries and were curious about the plastic beds around the strawberries, called plasticulture.
“The plastic traps the moisture in the ground for the plant and protects the berries from unwanted weeds,” Demases said. “The plasticulture also helps us use less water because when the sun is on the plant, it can’t evaporate the moisture outside of the dirt.”
When the strawberries are fully ripe, they are ready to be picked and harvested.
“The better tasting strawberries are the really red ones. You only want to pick solid red strawberries,” Demases said. “When they’re green or little, that means they’re not ready to be picked. If you pick it too early, the strawberry won’t ripen or get sweeter. Once you pick that strawberry off the vine, it’s done growing.”
More information about Farm From School
The last session for the spring semester will focus on watermelons.
Sign up for the fall 2024 program will open later this summer.
Click here for more information about the Farm From School program.
Visit texasfarmbureau.org/aitc for more information and the latest announcements on TFB’s Ag in the Classroom activities.
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