Tarrant County elections administration invites you to test voting machines
The Tarrant County elections administration team will test voting equipment in a public mock election Jan. 11 at its office at 2700 Premier St., in preparation for the March 5 primary.
Doors open for the event at 8 a.m. with mock voting beginning at 9 a.m. The team will process 15 absentee and 35 in-person ballots.
“We do believe it will improve voter confidence in the system because they will get to see it with their own eyes, how it works, what is going on,” Clinton Ludwig, Tarrant County election administrator, said. “We’re here and available to answer questions.”
After the public has filled out the 50 ballots workers will count the votes by hand to make sure they match the results from the machines.
“And of course while we are doing this, those individuals that believe that the results can be changed are welcomed to attempt to do so,” Ludwig said.
Katheryn Moore, an election judge and Republican precinct chair, encouraged the public to show up.
“It’s not a small feat to pull off elections for 1.2 million people. And I appreciate the challenges of that. There are some groups that really doubt that our elections are carried out properly and I just see it as such a huge win for us to just go ahead and let them try and come in and and see for themselves,” Moore said.
The elections administration conducted a similar test in 2022.
“It’s a normal public test that we do to allow the public to come in and see the actual ballot styles that will be used in the primary. It’s not a real election, so I can’t say these are real ballots. But it’s all the same races that they will see in the primaries,” Ludwig said.
Early voting begins Feb 20. The last day to register is Feb 5.
