Partial Manual Count for the November 5, 2013 Uniform Election Date
| To: | County Clerks and Elections Administrators |
| From: | Keith Ingram, Director of Elections |
| Date: | October 25, 2013 |
| RE: | Partial Manual Count for the November 5, 2013 Uniform Election Date |
This is your official notification that the partial manual count will not be waived for the November 5, 2013 Uniform Election date. Under Section 127.201(a) of the Texas Election Code (the “Code”), the general custodian of election records in an election in which an electronic voting system is used is required to conduct a manual count in one percent of the election precincts or in three election precincts, whichever is greater.
A Note to Counties Using DRE Voting Systems: House Bill 2817 amended the Texas Election Code to exempt direct recording electronic voting systems from the manual count requirement. At present, the Secretary of State has decided to also exempt these DRE-only political subdivisions from the partial manual count of mail optical scan ballots as well. This is to avoid the possibility of revealing individual’s votes in certain precincts and also in recognition that mail ballots are often not retained by precinct. We note that per Section 127.202 of the Code, if it is determined to be necessary, the Secretary of State has authority to order a manual or automatic count to be conducted after any election to ensure the accuracy of the tabulation of votes.
If you have any questions, please contact Ms. Juanita Woods toll-free at 1-800-252-2216 (press 2).
