Burnet County town hall to guide election equipment purchase
Burnet County is hosting a town hall to gather public input before officials purchase new election equipment. The meeting is 6 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 25, in the AgriLife auditorium, 607 N. Vandereer St. in Burnet.
Residents may ask questions and voice their opinions on the proposed equipment change. Vendors, representatives from the Texas Secretary of State’s office, and officials from other counties who have implemented different voting systems have been invited to participate.
“We want as many people there as possible,” Burnet County Commissioner Damon Beierle told DailyTrib.com. “We want the machine reps there to talk about all the ins and outs of the machines. We also want Gillespie County there because they hand-counted in the 2024 primary, and we want to hear their opinion on how that went.”
According to Doug Ferguson, Burnet County elections administrator, new voting machines must be purchased before a state-set deadline of Sept. 1, 2026.
“The equipment that we’ve been using for 20 years is not allowed starting in the November 2026 election by law,” Ferguson said. “It doesn’t have a voter-verifiable paper trail. In other words, when a voter votes, they can’t look at anything on paper to see that their vote is correct before they cast it.”
The town hall will help the county vet all options before making a decision.
“We’ve researched, had demos over the years … and the equipment that we are looking at (will change) when a voter checks in to vote,” Ferguson said. “They get a choice to either get a printed paper ballot right there on the spot … or they can go sit down at a ballot-marking device.”
Ferguson said getting ahead of the 2026 deadline will be beneficial.
“You don’t wanna try using brand-new equipment in a big election (congressional midterm). You need to get your feet wet with a smaller election (city/school),” he said. “That’s why we have made a decision to try to do it this year because the elections are smaller this year.”
No official votes or decisions will be made at the Tuesday town hall, but Commissioner Beierle said Burnet County has already earmarked money for new equipment.
“If we get to where we’re comfortable with a decision, we’ll put it on the agenda,” he said. “Some purchasing details would have to be ironed out before we could vote on it, but we do know it’s funded. We have the money for almost any decision we make.”