Residents ask commissioners to reconsider paper ballots

Bosque County residents spoke up in commissioners court Monday, asking commissioners to reconsider the decision to purchase ballot on demand systems and software instead of using hand counted paper ballots.

Most who spoke were concerned about security risks related to the new machines, with some citing the recent global tech outage as an example. A poll worker during the March 5 election said polls were down at one location in the county for about 45 minutes and asked what recourse there was should machines go down this November.

County Judge Cindy Vanlandingham admonished the courtroom following an outburst from the audience after one commenter voiced support for the on demand machines, saying they were more accurate than hand counting ballots.

Commissioners approved the purchase of a ballot on demand system and poll books, along with a ballot by mail ballot on demand system on June 24 and approved the signing of those contracts in court this week. While the measures were approved by commissioners Pct. 2 Terry Townley, Pct. 3 Larry Philipp and Pct. 4 Ronny Liardon, Pct. 1 Commissioner Billy Hall abstained from each of the three votes Monday.

The Bosque County Record-Tribune

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