Early voting is underway in Texas as voters consider 14 amendments to the state constitution.
If a voter tries to cast a ballot and encounters a glitch, North Texas’ biggest counties recommend the same thing: Talk to a poll worker and call the county elections department.
Keller resident Allison Plake reached out to KERA about her voting problem after she cast her ballot on Tuesday. When she put her ballot in the scanner at the end, a spinning wheel popped up, she said — the universal sign that a piece of technology is trying, and maybe failing, to load something.
Plake “[doesn’t] take our civic duty of voting lightly,” and state and local elections have the most impact, she said.
So she stayed an extra hour at the Golden Triangle Library polling place, talking to poll workers about the problem. The scanner screen should have displayed the number of ballots cast, but it wasn’t counting hers, she said.
“I just need confirmation that my vote was counted, and I don't want that to happen to other people,” she said.
KERA talked to Tarrant County Elections Administrator Clint Ludwig about Plake’s problem, which he confirmed.
This error was unusual, he said, and the only big tech problem Tarrant County has had to deal with in early voting so far — “Knock on wood.”
“It is equipment. Sometimes, it just doesn’t want to work quite right,” Ludwig said.
Plake did exactly what Ludwig recommends anyone do if they encounter an issue at the polls. She showed the problem to a poll worker.
Poll workers at the Golden Triangle Library called the county elections department about Plake’s issue. Then, election techs brought over a new scanner, replaced the wonky one, and securely transported the old scanner’s ballot box back to the main elections office, Ludwig said.
The ballot box then goes to the ballot board, a team in charge of reconciling voting problems. The ballot board will scan the ballots inside and make sure all of them, including Plake’s, can be properly counted, Ludwig said.
Ballot board members are selected by three local political parties, the Tarrant County Republicans, Democrats and Libertarians. When a printing problem left thousands of mail-in ballots unscannable in 2020, the ballot board oversaw the process of copying people’s votes onto ballots with legible barcodes.
If people have a problem at a polling place, after they talk to poll workers, they can also call the elections department for peace of mind, Ludwig said.
The same goes for Dallas County voters, said Dallas County Elections spokesperson Nic Solorzano.
“Feel free to call us, about anything,” Solorzano said.
As for the machine that gave Plake trouble on Tuesday, it won’t go back into use during this election, Ludwig said.
Election Day is Nov. 7.
If you have trouble voting in Tarrant or Dallas counties, here are the numbers to call:
Tarrant County Elections (817) 831-VOTE (8683)
Dallas County Elections (469) 627-VOTE (8683)
Got a tip? Email Miranda Suarez at msuarez@kera.org. You can follow Miranda on X @MirandaRSuarez.
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