AUSTIN (KXAN) — Williamson County commissioners approved the purchase of new election equipment to comply with a Trump Administration executive order banning ballots containing votes within barcodes in a 5-0 vote in Tuesday’s county commissioners court meeting.
The new system will be a ballot on demand (BOD) system, which prints a full-faced ballot that Williamson County voters would mark their voting choices using a pen. The ballot would then be scanned electronically.
Previously, Williamson County used a ballot card, which would be inserted into a ballot marking device that allows voters to make their voting selections at the machine. Once the selections are made, the ballot—which had the voter’s selections marked in a barcode like manner—would be taken to a scanner where it tabulates the ballot.
Bridgette Escobedo, Williamson County’s Election Administrator, recommend to voluntarily comply with the executive order with the BOD system in the commissioners’ court meeting.
“We want our voters to have the same experience that they are currently having in a polling location,” Escobedo said.
Escobedo also said that her team has created a mock polling location in their office to refine Williamson County’s election processes and procedures as they adjust to the new system.
“The goal is to be ready for this upcoming November constitutional amendment election,” Escobedo said.
The new voting system did receive some pushback in Tuesday’s commissioner court meeting. Dr. Laura Pressley with True Texas Elections provided a testimony during the meeting, bringing up concerns she has with the BOD technology.
“We don’t know what type of software, what kind of programs are on this new equipment, and you could have issues at the polls with different election workers,” Pressley said. “There is a serious concern about ballot secrecy.”
In the commissioners’ court meeting, Escobedo said she does not have any concerns with secrecy with this system, saying her team will do their “very best to protect the secrecy of everyone’s ballot.”
Pressley also had concerns about how this system would operate.
“If you have a very long ballot that’s multiple pages—how do you handle that from a ballot numbering standpoint,” Pressley said. “The only way really to ensure that is consistent ballot printing at the polls for the races that the group and that precinct can vote in.”
KXAN reached out to Travis and Hays Counties on how their election systems work and if they planned to make changes to their current election systems. The Hays County’s election administrator told KXAN Hays’ election system machines are already in compliance with the executive order as they use optical character recognition technology, which captures a word-for-word record of voters’ choices, instead of barcodes.
KXAN has not heard back from Travis County yet. We will update this story when a response is received.
Purchasing the equipment will cost $1,137,300. Commissioners also approved applying for the HAVA Election Security Grant, which could help reimburse the purchase of the BOD system.
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