Burnet County prepares for voting machine mandate amid public concerns

With a 2026 deadline looming for Texas counties to update their voting equipment, Burnet County officials hosted a town hall Tuesday, Feb. 25, to answer questions and address concerns about the new system under consideration.

The meeting, which included all county commissioners, Burnet County Elections Administrator Doug Ferguson, Gillespie County Elections Administrator Jim Riley, and representatives from the considered voting machine company, was intended to clarify how the new equipment will work and address concerns about election security, cost, and transparency.

The impending voting machine change stems from Texas Senate Bill 1, which mandates that all voting systems in the state provide a voter-verifiable paper trail by September 2026. While two voting machine systems meet the state requirement, Election System and Software and Hart InterCivic, Ferguson recommended the Hart machine.

“The system we’re considering will allow voters to mark a paper ballot by hand or use an ADA-accessible electronic marking device that prints a paper ballot,” he said during the town hall. “Either way, the paper ballot is then fed into a scanner for tabulation.”

Ferguson said one reason to pick Hart is cost-effectiveness.

“The system that we’re talking about uses plain paper, whereas the other machine (Election System and Software) uses a heat-sensitive cardstock,” Ferguson said. “(The plain paper is) a lot cheaper and it’s a lot more readily available.”

Ferguson said the preferred system is also easier to store. 

“It’s a table that folds up and can be stored flat. It’s about maybe four or five inches thick once it’s flattened. … We can store something like that. We don’t have a lot of room,” he said. 

Additionally, the county elections administrator found the competitor’s system less trustworthy. 

“Probably the biggest difference between what Hart offers in a voting machine and what the competitor offers in a voting machine is that (Hart’s) machine uses the words on the page, what the voter actually sees … for tabulation,” he said. “The competitor’s voting machine stores all of their votes on a barcode that is then scanned and tabulated. I don’t know about you, but I can’t read barcode.”

KEY TOPICS AT THE TOWN HALL

The Tuesday meeting featured a question-and-answer session with officials during which residents voiced concerns and asked about election integrity, machine security, and the possibility of integrating hand-counted elections.

Machine security and accuracy

Recurring questions from the audience were how voters could be sure their ballots were correctly counted and that the software had no unauthorized access points as well as where machine parts were sourced.

Representatives from Hart InterCivic explained the accuracy of their machines. 

“The federal government requires the standard to have an accuracy rate of 99.9 percent, I believe,” said Hart’s Felice Liston.

Ferguson also explained to the crowd that voting machine software cannot be accessed via the internet.

“(The voting machines) are non-connected to the Internet. … You have to physically get in front of one of the computers in my office to access its software,” he said.

Another Hart representative, Sam Derheimer, said machine parts were sourced from around the world, including Germany, Canada, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom.

“We work with our manufacturing partner to build trusted relationships with supply chain companies that have long track records of success and security,” he said. “We do get some of the plastics from China. The (micro)chips come from Taiwan.” 

Hand counting vs. machine counting

Some town hall attendees questioned whether Burnet County should hand count ballots rather than use electronic scanners. Gillespie County Elections Administrator Jim Riley, whose county conducted a hand-counted election last year, warned that the process led to more errors and significantly delayed results.

“We had nearly 1,000 clerical errors, and it took 18-plus hours for our teams to complete the count,” he said. “We also found that some voters had voted twice (in multiple primaries) because the process lacked built-in checks.”

Riley said 13 of the 14 precincts in Gillespie County made mistakes while hand counting the ballots and the entire process cost about $27,000.

Machine costs and funding

Burnet County has $900,000 earmarked for the purchase of new election equipment through a tax note, which will be paid off over the next four years. The Hart machines that Elections Administrator Ferguson recommended would cost around $850,000. While the upfront cost for the machines from Election System and Software were lower, Ferguson estimated the annual maintenance cost for the Hart system—$38,000—would be lower than most other competing machines.

“(The competitor’s) upfront cost for all their stuff is lower than Hart’s upfront cost, but then their annual service—and I mean license and support fees—are about double Hart’s, so over time, the cost is higher,” Ferguson said. 

Countywide voting at risk?

Another major topic of discussion was the future of countywide voting, which allows registered voters to cast ballots at any polling place within Burnet County rather than being restricted to their voting precinct.

A proposal in the Texas Legislature, introduced by Sen. Bob Hall and Rep. David Lowe, seeks to repeal countywide voting statewide. Ferguson plans to formally oppose the repeal by sending a resolution from the Burnet County Commissioners Court to the legislature arguing that countywide voting is more convenient for voters and has received overwhelmingly positive feedback.

Other counties in the Texas Association of Elections Administrators are also pushing back against the proposed change.

“Even counties that don’t currently use countywide voting are filing resolutions in favor of keeping the system in place,” Ferguson said. “Our voters love it. It’s more convenient, secure, and efficient.”

If the proposed legislation passes, Burnet County would be forced to return to precinct-based voting.

Next steps

The Burnet County Commissioners Court must still vote on whether to approve the recommended voting equipment and finalize purchasing decisions. No official vote has been scheduled yet, but Ferguson urged the county to move quickly.

“I want to get equipment running and tested before we need it in 2026,” he said.

For more information on election procedures in Burnet County, visit burnetcountyelections.com. 

elizabeth@thepicayune.com