Dallas County asks voters to test its system, find vulnerabilities

DALLAS - The Dallas County Election Department is inviting voters to help test its voting equipment on Monday ahead of the March primary elections.

This will be the county’s first-ever public verification test.

Beginning at 9 a.m., voters can cast a test ballot at the department’s office at 1520 Round Table Drive in Dallas, which is near Interstate 35 and Regal Row.

The ballots cast on Monday won’t count. However, participants will see the same races and propositions that will be on the actual primary election ballots.

Voters will also be given the opportunity to expose any vulnerabilities they believe exist in the voting system.

"We are inviting everyone to come in, to ask questions, to bring us any doubts or any concerns you have no matter where you got them whether it’s social media, a friend, or just because you’ve been reading about it and you have your own questions. Bring them. We want you to play with the equipment. We want you to touch it. We want you to experiment with it. And if there’s such a thing as a vulnerability, we want you to show us," said County Elections Administrator Heider Garcia.

Garcia said his staff is ready to answer questions. For example, a common one is about whether the machines are connected to the internet.

"No, they are not," he said.

What happens if someone tries to vote more than once?

"They can’t because when you check in the poll books are telling each other location, every other location ‘Hanna just voted here, don’t let her vote a second time at this other place,’" Garcia said. "So, you’ll be stopped."

The staff is also ready to explain exactly how the machines work.

The process involves an electronic machine with a printed paper ballot. That ballot is then inserted into a scanner to be counted.

"This is the machine that actually counts the ballots. The whole point of the system is you don’t have to trust me. You don’t have to trust the machine because you have a paper ballot. You count [your selections], you match it to the tape and you know the counts are good," Garcia said. "And so that’s what we want people to understand. That’s what we want people to play with today and to experiment and to visualize."

The voting test will end at 11 and then a counting test will begin.

Garcia said people often question why machines are used to count rather than humans.

"Because people have a tendency to make mistakes when they do a repetitive task. People get tired. Remember we’re going to count hundreds of these with dozens of races on them after 12 or 14 hours of work, right? A poll worker starts working at 5 a.m. and they start counting ballots if they did it manually at 7 p.m. So, you know, it is a process prone to error. [The machines] don’t get tired," he said.

The test is open to anyone, even those who do not live in Dallas County.