Top Texas Election Official Acknowledges Threats to Ballot Secrecy
But, she acknowledged, “The more data you put out there …, and the more granular and detailed that data gets, the more likely you are to run up against ballot secrecy. And what we’re seeing right now is that conflict between transparency and secrecy.”
At least some lawmakers said the state needs to reexamine what it’s making public and how, so that voters’ ballot choices remain secret, an essential aspect of free elections designed to guard against voter intimidation.
State Sen. Brian Birdwell, a Republican from Granbury, asked Adkins if his vote was accessible via public records requests.
“You ought to be able to audit by name, but not see the ballot,” he said.
State Sen. Paul Bettencourt, a Republican from Houston, acknowledged that in other states, information from very small precincts is aggregated into larger ones “to basically protect the voter from being pigeonholed by like, what happened in this case.” Bettencourt said he believes the Legislature would take bipartisan action to allow election officials to do that.
Any such action likely won’t happen before November’s elections, though. State lawmakers won’t begin debating and voting on new legislation until January.
But at least some witnesses said Wednesday that they don’t want access to election records rolled back.
“If you don’t let us see it, then how would we ever know if this is a legitimate vote or a legitimate voter?” asked Beth Beisel, a Dallas-based poll watcher and proponent of hand-counting ballots.
Election officials could redact more information in the public records to make it harder to tie a ballot to a specific voter. By law, county election officials are already required to redact identifiable information in election records such as Social Security numbers, state-issued identification numbers, and phone numbers. But Adkins said they’re permitted to do more, if necessary.
“What we thought was personally identifiable information is much broader than what we envisioned and what I think election officials envisioned originally,” she said.
The discussion on the issue Wednesday was part of a series of meetings the Senate will be hosting this week. Lt. Governor Dan Patrick released a list of 57 issues for Texas Senate committees to study in preparation for next year’s legislative session, including election security and the countywide polling place program.
The Senate committee hearing went long into the evening on Wednesday as lawmakers also heard public testimony on other issues. The committee will submit reports with its findings and will make policy recommendations before the end of the year.
Natalia Contreras covers election administration and voting access for Votebeat in partnership with The Texas Tribune.This coverage is made possible through Votebeat, a nonpartisan news organization covering local election administration and voting access. Sign up for Votebeat Texas’ free newsletters here. This story is published courtesy of the Texas Tribune.The Texas Tribune is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
