HARRIS COUNTY, Texas — Harris County wants to be ready for the next election in the wake of the controversial handling of the Texas primary earlier this month.
On Monday, it went through a logic and accuracy test at the Election Technology Center in Spring Branch.
The Texas Election Code requires a trial run before each upcoming election to test the equipment and system, to be sure ballots are properly displayed and to see that votes get counted properly.
Stand-ins act as voters and use actual machines. Republicans and Democratic party members are both invited to double-check the process.
Problems with the March primary forced Harris County Election Administrator Isabel Longoria to resign effective July 1.
Issues included troubles with new machines and a vote count that took 30 hours. Election officials blamed much of the delay on 1,500 paper ballots that had jammed.
Independent of any trial run, the May runoff election should be smoother.
“The main difference is the March primary was two pieces of paper. This May run-off is just one page because the ballot is much shorter,” Longoria said.
An even bigger issue in March was 10,000 mail-in ballots that were not included in the original tabulation.
“We had a USB drive with those 10,000 ballots in one machine … We had a 1 a.m. Shift change. Someone took it out and told someone ‘Don't forget to put it into the second machine.’ Very typical human error," Longoria said.
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Longoria said improving the human factor is also part of the equation.
Monday’s test run is for a local and constitutional amendment election in May, one of two votes to be held that month. It is not for the primary runoff, the other May election.