This year’s presidential election is expected to bring a lot of people to the polls. Dallas County tested its machines. NBC 5’s Vince Sims reports it’s part of an effort to assure the public the process is secure.
In Dallas County, election equipment was put through a test Friday.
People were allowed to go through the voting process. It's a way of verifying the machines are working as mandated by Texas law.
Dallas County Election Administrator Heider Garcia said there are safeguards in place to prevent tampering.
“The process is incredibly secure and we trust our technology a lot,” Garcia said. “But even if something were to happen, we’d detect it and would have a way to actually know what happened. That’s the power of a paper trail.”
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Texas mandated all counties migrate to a paper system by 2026. Dallas County has electronic machines and paper ballots.
“Every single voter in Dallas county has a paper ballot that we can use later on to audit and make sure that the election shows as a result what people voted in their ballot,” Garcia said.
All records and paper ballots are stored for 22 months after the election in case of any challenges or need for an audit.
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Voters also have the option to vote by mail. Garcia said to request one now so you can get it returned as soon as possible.
“The mail ballot has a travel time that we don’t control,” Garcia said. “So, my advice to everyone who wants to vote a mail ballot is don’t wait. Put in your application right now. Get your mail ballot as soon as you can and mail it back as soon as you can.”
Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 5. The last day to register to vote in the election is Monday, Oct. 7. Voter registration status can be checked here.
