Robertson County says glitches delayed results

By HOLLY HUFFMAN
Eagle Staff Writer

Robertson County election officials on Wednesday blamed software glitches and mechanical problems with the county's new electronic voting equipment for the delay in tabulating ballots on election night.

Election administrator Trudy Hancock said the software used to tabulate the results had problems with data from certain precincts where Republicans and Democrats voted in separate locations. Thus, all results had to be double-checked for accuracy, she said.

The results also were delayed when the "counter" - the machine designed to count absentee, or mail-in, ballots - broke, Hancock said.

The county did not experience any problems at individual polling locations, she said.

"We just were really diligent in making sure the numbers we released were correct," Hancock said Wednesday, explaining why the results weren't released Tuesday night.

About 40 percent of Robertson County's 11,672 registered voters cast a ballot for the Republican and Democratic primaries, Hancock said. The turnout is about average compared with the county's previous primary and general elections, but it's roughly three times the state average this year.

Hancock said 800 of the 4,736 ballots cast were absentee votes.

Absentee balloting has long been a source of contention among Robertson County residents. Recruiting the absentee vote has been considered standard practice by some candidates.

In 2003, a Robertson County grand jury returned nearly 30 criminal indictments in connection with voter fraud and illegal voting in a Hearne mayoral election. A Hearne municipal judge was terminated the following year after being rebuked by the State Commission on Judicial Ethics for offering to exchange absentee votes for cash.

Hancock said Wednesday there was no indication of voter fraud in Tuesday's election.

County officials had refused late Tuesday to release election results. They also would not say why they weren't releasing the figures.

Hancock said Wednesday they simply had been trying to ensure that all ballots were tallied correctly. The final results were released early Wednesday morning.

Election workers enlisted technical support representatives for the tabulation machines to help fix the software glitches and bring them another vote tabulator, Hancock said. That second machine wasn't delivered until after 7 p.m. Tuesday, she explained. Election officials then double-checked all results, Hancock said.

The Texas Secretary of State's Office on Wednesday reported a smattering of similar problems in a few counties across the state. All problems were related to ballot tabulation, officials said.

"It hasn't been a huge problem, but there are some" counties that experienced troubles, communications director Scott Haywood said.

Haywood said the Secretary of State's Office had not received any complaints of voter fraud in Robertson County. If a complaint is filed, the office will investigate and then forward it to the Texas Attorney General's Office, if warranted, he said.