Some Tarrant County Voters Report Problems When Selecting ‘Straight Party’ Option
By MaryAnn Martinez
FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) – In a hyper partisan election, some voters in Tarrant County are finding they’re selecting the candidate of the party they don’t want.
The issue is coming up when voters select the “straight party” option.
About ten voters in Tarrant County have complaints that something isn’t right when they select the “straight party” option… meaning they want to vote all Republican or all Democrat.
Tarrant County Elections Administrator Heider Garcia sees he believes he knows what the issue is, walking us through the process using a mock ballot.
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“You just find a party you like. You’re going to click on it and wait until the machine marks everything on the ballot for that party,” said Garcia.
Sounds easy enough but about ten voters in Tarrant County have complaints that something isn’t right when they select the “straight party” option…meaning they want to vote all Republican or all Democrat.
The Texas Secretary of State, who is in charge of elections is warning voter, saying the Tarrant County residents who reach out to his office say “…it appeared to them that the machine had changed one or more of their selections to a candidate from a different party.”
Garcia showed us what can happen when voters move a selection wheel on voting machines in Tarrant County. After the “straight party” option is selected, the ballot takes a couple seconds to load the straight party option— giving voters plenty of time to push buttons below the screen— inadvertently allowing them to change their selections.
“You can always do your review when you get to the summary screen and make sure that what you are seeing on the screen is what you intend to vote for,” said Garcia.
voting machine (CBS11)
The review page will automatically come up before you cast your final ballot.
“I told a couple of people today, you waited 20, 30 minutes today to vote. Take an extra 30 seconds to make sure what you’re about to record is what you came in to vote for,” said Garcia.
Election workers can help you learn the machine, but they can’t review your votes for your since it’s a secret ballot.
Click here for instructions on how to use the voting machines.
The electronic ballot is the one option during early voting, but in Election Day, you will be able to cast a paper ballot.