Dallas County says the potential for voter fraud is prompting election officials to take extra time finalizing results from Saturday’s runoff elections.
"The election process is a sacrament in our democracy and when that sacrament is ruined, people lose confidence in the election, whether it's a local election or whether it's a national election when Russians deal with it,” said Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings
All of the mail-in ballots that require assistance have been sequestered. That means some mail-in ballots will be included in the Saturday voting results, but those ballots that require assistance will not. Mail-in ballots have proven to be the most susceptible to possible voter fraud, based on what happened during the last election.
The district attorney began investigating in May, after people received mail-in ballots for the may 6th elections, without requesting them. The DA’s office issued warrants for one suspect and says more criminal cases are expected.
Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins and Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings say there are 834 of those ballots that will not be immediately included in the Saturday voting results. 698 of those ballots were cast in one of the three city of Dallas run off races. Some of those races are tight and might not be called Saturday night because of it.
"That's one of the reasons why we're here today. We have a high degree of confidence that this will be a valid election,” said Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins.
The ballot board will review sequestered ballots at 8 am Sunday, making sure signatures match the voter's ID card, the mail-in envelope and the mail-in ballot.
Candidates can have a poll watcher sit in and watch the ballot board to make sure they are going through the ballots appropriately.
The process could be finished by Sunday evening, but their goal is to know the results of all the sequestered ballots by Monday.