Tarrant County explains mail-in ballot verification process
FORT WORTH, Texas - Tarrant County officials on Tuesday detailed the extensive process the elections department will go through to verify mail-in ballots.
It is a tightly run, highly secure process — and it is by all accounts well underway, even days before early voting begins.
People in roughly 2,500 vehicles did the drive-up process in Tarrant County to complete voter registration by Monday’s deadline. About 300 vehicles were there to drop off ballots.
“We had a little under 5,000 forms in the boxes that we were collecting yesterday,” said Heider Garcia, Tarrant County Elections Chief.
It’s a voter landscape that will require a larger than typical number of citizens to verify signatures on those mail-in ballots. 31 Republicans, 48 Democrats and 10 Libertarians have been selected in Tarrant County. They will work in pairs, each coupled with someone from a different party.
“They look on the screen at signature and signature on the application and records of other signatures for the voter. They can do one of two things. They can approve it or they can question it, say we didn’t agree it’s a match. They won’t reject it,” Garcia said.
When that happens, the ballot gets flagged for tougher scrutiny involving a larger group -- the entire ballot board.
“All 20 people, or whoever is there that day, at this point they have like 80 people from all the parties. They’ll pull in a certain number every day to work, and they’ll vote as a whole. So that is how a ballot could get rejected, the ballot board as a whole, after October 22 when they start convening as the ballot board voted to reject the signature,” Garcia said.
Garcia said he has every reason to believe the process, despite speculation of record turnout, will go smoothly. At the same time he has some advice.
“That’s something I want people to keep in mind. Vote early if you can. Why wait?” he said.
Early voting begins in one week, Tuesday, October 13. Election Day is November 3.