The Dallas County Commissioners Court has given its elections vendor an ultimatum: prove that the software problems that plagued the Nov. 5 general election have been resolved or the county’s business will be lost.
Early voting started this year with a glitch in the electronic poll books used to check in voters, leading to 3,966 people across the province casting ballots in areas where they did not live. Elections Administrator Heider Garcia previously said that no race results had a margin small enough to be affected by incorrect ballots.
But the issue caused thousands to lose their chance to vote in their congressional races, state House races and local propositions — or to vote in contests they should not have gotten based on their residency-based ballot.
Two representatives of ES&S appeared at the commissioners’ court on Tuesday and apologized to the public for the mistakes. They assured commissioners that a software configuration update ES&S released on the first day of early voting that mitigated the problem would be in effect for the next election on May 3. But their reconciliation failed when elected officials questioned the vendor about what went wrong and reminded them that the problem was not resolved after the configuration update was installed.
Commissioner Elba Garcia said she had “no confidence in the company” after ES&S representatives acknowledged they had not yet approached the state about certifying a new version of the software that could provide a permanent solution.
“All of these excuses are really not acceptable,” said Commissioner John Wiley Price, who said the county has paid ES&S $35 million for its products and services over the years.
The problems started when electronic polling places showed frozen screens as poll workers tried to check in voters. The devices actually processed their requests, but didn’t show any indication indicating this, explains ES&S account manager Danda Parker. In response to the delay, poll workers or voters repeatedly tapped the screens, and that action resulted in multiple ballots for that voter being queued for printing. As a result, upon check-in, subsequent voters received the ballot type for the precinct corresponding to the person before them.
Parker said the update allowed pollsters to display a different page during processing, to prevent pollsters from repeatedly tapping the screen during processing. But she and Willie Wesley, vice president of international business development for ES&S, acknowledged that this is only a workaround in the current version of the software.
Parker said a more permanent solution has been created, but if it were provided to Dallas County, the Texas Secretary of State would have to approve a new software version. The next regularly scheduled certification the supplier could participate in would be in July, Parker said.
Wesley told commissioners that ES&S would immediately investigate whether the state offers an emergency certification process so the vendor could release the new version before the May election.
“Now that we’ve had this conversation, we’re absolutely going to go back to emergency certification again because we want the solution to be fully in place so you never have this problem again,” Wesley said. “And we sincerely apologize that this happened, it is embarrassing for us.”
But elections administrator Heider Garcia told commissioners that Texas does offer emergency certification. He said the fact that ES&S did not already explore that option before Tuesday’s meeting “gives me pause.”
“What I expected to hear today was, ‘We picked up the phone a month ago, we talked to the secretary, we talked to the team, we put an emergency certification in place for January and February,’” Garcia said. “… .what I hear is that this has not happened yet. I want you to think about that. Because that does not show the urgency to tackle this problem.”
Garcia said the county could hire a new supplier for electronic ballot books, but the purchasing department would have to confirm by May whether this is possible. He said the switch could cost up to $3 million. Although only two vendors are authorized to issue tabulation machines in Texas, at least four issue electronic ballot booklets. Garcia said some counties use ES&S for their tabulation machines, but a different company for their polls.
The commissioners could not suppress their frustration that ES&S representatives had no answer Tuesday about the certification of the new software version: “What made y’all think we were calling you here?” Price asked.
“I can assure you that we have had multiple discussions, at the highest levels within our company we have talked about this specific issue,” Wesley responded, “because voter trust is one of the highest priorities.”
Parker said the same problem occurred in five to six other larger counties in Texas, as well as New York and New Jersey states. But she could not confirm which Texas counties had the problem.
“What about some of those red states, did they have these problems where you were providing service? Why not?” Commissioner Andy Sommerman responded. Wesley said the seller doesn’t consider partisan ties.
Judge Clay Lewis Jenkins implored the representatives to inform the county as soon as possible whether the state can issue an emergency certification for the new software. He said if the state can certify the new version before May, he wants a third party to test it to make sure it works.
