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Friday, March 29, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Texas Missed 450 Blue Votes, Democrats Say

FORT WORTH (CN) - Texas elections officials failed to count about 450 Democratic primary votes Tuesday because a ballot reader was not turned on, the Tarrant County Democratic Party chairwoman says.

Deborah Peoples filed an application under the Texas Election Code on Thursday, asking the Tarrant County elections administrator to count the unrecorded votes in four precincts.

Peoples says an audit determined the votes were "erroneously placed" in a sealed ballot box.

"The cases are locked and secured as required by law," the 5-page application states. "The law requires a court order for the case to be unlocked so that the records may be retrieved and the remaining official duties relating to the election can be properly performed."

A precinct election judge reported that the case containing the ballots were delivered to Tarrant County elections officials after the polls had closed.

"There is no information that any of these ballots have been lost or damaged: they are believed to be safe and complete," the complaint states. "However, they were erroneously locked in a transfer case instead of being run through the E-Scan on Election Day."

Peoples seeks an order for the case to be opened and the ballots counted on March 7 at the Tarrant County Election Center.

Tarrant County Elections officials could not be reached for comment after business hours Thursday.

Peoples is represented by Stephen C. Maxwell in Fort Worth, the Tarrant County seat.

Follow @davejourno
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