Vote count handled by bipartisan teams
In the wake of the Nov. 3 general election, the air is filled with an overwhelming amount of disinformation about vote counting, specifically as it relates to mail ballots and provisional ballots. In Michigan, two Republican members of the Board of Canvassers of Wayne County, which includes Detroit, first refused to certify the election results there and then reversed their decision. This troubling incident rightfully made the national news. But it should be noted why: because it is an exception to the rule.
It is with this in mind that I feel compelled to offer my experience as the presiding judge of the Harris County Early Voting Ballot Board.
Every county in Texas has an Early Voting Ballot Board (EVBB) that is charged with two primary tasks: qualifying mail ballots and qualifying provisional ballots. Each of these boards is comprised of an equal number of Republicans and Democrats nominated by their respective county party chairs and appointed by the county election board (which is comprised of the two party chairs, the county judge, the county clerk, the voter registrar and the sheriff ).
As partisan political appointees in an historically divided political climate, one might expect that the EVBB would reflect the toxic divide. Nothing could be further from the truth. We are regular people, and we look like Harris County. We are CPAs, city employees, entrepreneurs, health professionals, homemakers, lawyers, non-profit workers, retirees, technicians, veterans and everything in between. Our identities are indicative of the beautifully diverse community that is Harris County, and we each bring our unique lived experiences to our work. We are committed to the integrity of our democratic process and an unwavering dedication to free and fair elections.
We take an oath never to do our work alone and only in the presence of a member of a political party different from our own. This oath also requires that we make every effort to correctly reflect the voter’s intent when it can be clearly determined. We work in bipartisan pairs, take every vote seriously and quite literally do everything in our power to ensure that each vote legally cast is counted.
For mail ballots, our primary job is to determine whether or not the voter was the person who voted the ballot. The principal evidence we review in this process is the signature on the vote-bymail application and the signature on the mail ballot carrier envelope. We also check voter registration status. All of this is done in pairs — one Republican and one Democrat. And so in order for a mail ballot to be accepted, a Republican and a Democrat must agree that the voter voted the ballot and did not violate the Election Code. Ninety-nine percent of the time, we agree. For those instances where there is a question, multiple teams — always one Republican and one Democrat — conduct the review. Sometimes we call the voter, sometimes we coordinate with the voter registrar’s office about registration issues. If we cannot agree, the presiding judge makes the final call. This happens a tiny fraction of the time — literally with only a bit more than half a dozen of the over 179,000 mail ballots we processed.
For provisional ballots, we are fact finders. For the vote to be accepted, the voter who cast the provisional ballot must have been registered to vote on time and must have not already cast another ballot in the election. So again in bipartisan pairs, we review each provisional ballot affidavit completed at the polling location and check them against county records. We work closely with the voter registrar to determine registration status and with the county clerk to determine whether or not the voter has already voted. As with mails ballots, each provisional ballot is subject to a multitiered bipartisan review process and 99 percent of the time, Republican and Democrat EVBB members agree.
There is no room for shenanigans in any of this. In addition to the natural check we have on each other with partisan parity in the room, poll watchers (appointed by candidates and parties) are almost always present and have access to everything we do. I believe this is a common feature across the country. While rules vary in different states, each has their own robust set of procedural checks and balances. I personally feel solidarity with every American who chooses to do election work.
This historically large election amid a pandemic made our work historically challenging. We started on Oct.14 and finished on Nov. 11. We had100 appointed members with roughly 50 working on any given day. Each of these members took time from their regular lives to do this, which often lasted more than 10 hours a day, all while wearing a mask and socially distancing. We worked closely with the voter registrar and county clerk employees who spent virtually every waking hour on this election. In total, we processed more than 179,000 mail ballots and almost 14,000 provisional ballots, which I believe is more than any county (including our own) in the history of our great state. We did it together and without drama. We did it Texas Strong.
I am proud of our team, every Republican and every Democrat. And I am proud to say without equivocation that the people of Harris County can be confident that every legally cast vote in this election has been counted.