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Voting correction brings mixed reactions

‘Button was not pushed’

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In a special meeting of the Parker County Commissioners Court, Elections Administrator Crickett Miller clarified what happened on May 24, the day of the primary runoff elections for the Democrat and Republican parties in the county.

When the results were originally posted online, there was a discrepancy. A total of 2,070 votes had not been tabulated from seven polling places. Miller said the problem was fixed immediately the next morning.

“I do apologize that we’re even here today. It’s a human error and that happens,” she said. “I guarantee this will not happen again. The sad thing to me is we had so many people in that room and none of us noticed that.”

In layman’s terms, a button was not pushed until the next morning tabulating the completed results from that day.

Ironically, there was a malfunction with the video equipment as she was trying to show information to the crowd that extended into the hall outside the commissioner’s courtroom, so County Judge Pat Deen called a short recess while it was fixed. The small room only holds around 60 people to begin with.

Also, the final official results were handed out to anyone in attendance who wanted a copy. These included provisional, mail-in and corrective action ballots, in all 30 additional ballots, Miller said.

The additional votes from the seven polling sites included:

Silver Creek United Methodist Church, 282 votes.

Azle City Hall, 455 votes.

Reno City Hall, 147 votes.

Springtown Senior Center, 614 votes.

Poolville Methodist Church, 131 votes.

Greenwood Fire Department, 261 votes.

Bear Creek Community Church, 180 votes.

Officials said corrective action has been taken to avert such a mistake happening again. An additional clerk will be watching during the final tabulation and making sure they are officially entered.

 

Apology not enough for some

Dr. Laura Pressley, founder of True Texas Elections and a self-proclaimed expert witness on electronic election fraud, disputed Miller’s time as to when the additional results were tabulated.

She presented paperwork that she said was an audit log report and that she said supports her claim that the tabulations were made at 9:23 p.m. on election night, not the next morning. But the chairpersons from both Republican and Democratic parties said this meeting wasn’t the time or place to bring the controversy or to determine the legitimacy of her paperwork and argument.

At that point the meeting turned into something of a she said/she said situation, with arguments from the crowd on behalf of both Pressley and election officials.

One citizen called for an independent review of the process. Another came to the defense of the officials, adding, “It’s easy to overlook things. It’s a lot of work.”

Another citizen hinted at foul play with his statement, “You can count and recount counterfeit money 10 times and you still get the same crime.” He also suggested a hand count of all ballots.

Another thanked the election officials, saying, “I want to congratulate Parker County and what they’ve done. They’ve cleaned up our elections.”

Several tried to pass their speaking minutes to Pressley, but the commission responded no. County Judge Pat Deen ultimately told Pressley and the crowd, “We’re not gonna tally that in public right now.”

Parker County Election Chief Deputy Gina Osborne said she knows exactly when the button was pushed and the votes were officially tabulated. “It was the next morning, and I did it,” she said.

Parker County Republican Chairman Scott Utley said Pressley should simply submit a report to the commission so they can go over it point by point, and that playing things out in public was not the right choice.

“She says she’s an expert. If she is, present us the facts and if there’s something we’ll move forward with solutions, not accusations,” Utley said.

Parker County Democratic Chairwoman Kay Parr questioned the origin of the report, saying “I want to know where she got the report. She did not get it from our elections administrator.

“When those votes were counted by the machine they were added. That change occurred the next morning.”

 

Final/Official Democrat and Republican Primary Runoff Election Results in Parker County

Total votes cast

16,751 out of 112,301 registered voters, 14.92%

 

Democratic Party

Lieutenant Governor

Mike Collier, 547 votes, 57.76%

Michelle Beckley, 400 votes, 42.24%

 

Attorney General

Rochelle Mercedes Garza, 573 votes, 60.70%

Joe Jaworski, 371 votes, 39.30%

 

Comptroller of Public Accounts

Janet T. Dudding, 667 votes, 71.80%

Angel Luis Vega, 262 votes, 28.20%

 

Commissioner of General Land Office

Jay Kleberg, 536 votes, 57.39%

SandraGrace Martinez, 398 votes, 42.61%

 

Republican Party

Attorney General

Ken Paxton, 11,187 votes, 71.64%

George P. Bush, 4,428 votes, 28.36%

 

Commissioner of the General Land Office

Dawn Buckingham, 8.979 votes, 63.32%

Tim Westley, 5,202 votes, 38.68%

 

Railroad Commissioner

Wayne Christian, 10.370 votes, 70.39%

Sarah Stogner, 4.362 votes, 29.61%

 

State Representative, Dist. 60

Mike Olcott, 8,595 votes, 55.00%

Glenn Rogers, 7,031 votes, 45.00%

 

County Commissioner, Pct. 2

Jacob Holt, 2,458 votes, 58.93%

Joe W. Harris, 1,713 votes, 41.07%

 

County Commissioner, Pct. 4

Mike Hale, 2,460 votes, 50.10%

Eric Contreras, 2,450 votes, 49.90%

 

Justice of the Peace, Pct. 4

Tim Mendolia, 2,609 votes, 55.40%

Allison Bedore, 2,100 votes, 44.60%

Editor’s note: With final results announced, there is a slim 10-vote margin in the County Commissioner Pct. 4 race with Mike Hale ahead of Eric Contreras., District-wide the State Rep. District 60 race decreased to a 300-vote lead for Glenn Rogers over Mike Olcott. In the short amount of time after the meeting and before press time, we reached out to see if any candidate planned to ask for a recount, but received no responses at our deadline.

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