Central Texas voters, get prepared for a new experience at the polls come November.

Travis, Hays and Williamson counties are all rolling out new voting machines for the upcoming election, which will allow people to vote electronically while also providing a paper backup of their ballot for the first time. Elections administrators say the change has the convenience of electronic voting while offering assurances to voters who have long demanded a paper trail system.



Voters are being encouraged to try out the new machines so they can get a handle on the new equipment before Election Day.

In Hays County, the new Hart InterCivic Verity Duo voting system is set up at the Hays County Courthouse, the Hays County Government Center and at the Precinct 2, 3 and 4 offices.

On a recent Tuesday, Kathleen Collins and Tom Wendt, both 69, tested out the machines at the elections office when they came to the government center to change their address.

Elections Administrator Jennifer Anderson walked them through the process, giving the pair an access code to use. Collins entered the number into the Verity Duo machine and inserted a blank piece of paper. On a touch screen, she entered her selections for president, vice president and school board. When she was done, she selected the option "print the record," and the machine spit out a paper ballot with her choices. Collins was able to review the selections. Anderson told her if anything was incorrect, she could redo the ballot up to three times.

Collins then moved over to a second machine, called the Verity Scan, where she inserted the paper ballot. When the American flag waved on the screen, her vote was officially cast. A locked safe connected to the machine stores the paper ballots, which can be used later for audits and recounts. Flash drives within the system itself are inserted into another device called the Verity Count to tally votes on Election Day.

Collins and Wendt said the process was very different from what they were used to, but both were happy to learn the county now would have a paper voting trail.

"If it's a close election and you have a paper ballot backup, you can be sure no one is getting online and messing with the electronic results," Wendt said. "Now you have two sets you can compare."

But Anderson cautioned that, contrary to what many people think, electronic voting systems are never placed online. She said it's a perception issue many share, and she understands voters feel more confident with a paper trail, especially after concerns about Russian meddling in the 2016 election. The introduction of the new systems do not allow voters opt out of the paper copies.

Hays County did not purchase the new system for that reason, Anderson said. Its electronic voting machines were long-past their expiration date and had connection issues that caused entire polling locations to shut down last year.

Anderson said the county had been waiting to purchase a new system until the most recent legislative session ended. State lawmakers had been considering a bill that would have required all counties to have voting machines with a paper trail. House Bill 2909 did not pass, but Hays County still opted for the system with the paper backup, assuming lawmakers might introduce similar legislation next session.

In August, the county purchased 400 voting units, 70 scanners and 70 controller units at a cost of $1.6 million from Hart InterCivic, one of two vendors in Texas that make an electronic voting system with paper backup.

The new system also allows voters to switch between Spanish and English and is designed to accommodate people with disabilities, including those with visual and hearing impairments or in wheelchairs, so they no longer will need to vote at specially designated locations.

Poll workers will be on hand to walk people through the new system on Election Day. Elections administrators have cautioned the new system could increase the amount of time it takes to cast a vote, but feel that giving voters the additional safety nets they have requested are worth any potential delays.



"We would encourage people to come out and vote in November and to bring a little bit of patience because the new voting system is new for them," said Ronald Morgan, chief deputy county clerk for Travis County, which will also roll out electronic voting machines with paper backups in November. Travis County opted for the Election Systems & Software system, at a cost of $8.1 million.

Travis County has been trying to implement a paper trail system for years and had previously worked with experts on an open-source model that would be free and accessible to anyone, trying to recruit companies to create the product. However, that idea fell flat after Travis County Elections Administrator Dana DeBeauvoir said companies weren't interested in an open-source approach since it wouldn't require continual renewal of expensive software licensing agreements.

Instead, Travis County opted last year to purchase the Election Systems & Software equipment to replace its 17-year-old system, which was electronic only. Texas counties have been scrambling to replace their aging voting systems before the 2020 presidential election, when turnout is high and voters can expect long lines at the polls.

"We don’t want to do a new voting system in a hotly contested primary and presidential election," Morgan said. "We want to make sure we have the new system in, that people are trained in it before the primary and the presidential elections. So this timing has worked out perfectly."

Voters in Travis County won't be able to try out the new system until closer to Election Day, a way to get them acquainted with the new equipment, while at the same time making them aware of an election that generally has moderate to low turnout, Morgan said.

"Our hope is to reach every voter in Travis County and to actually get them to come put hands on the new voting machine prior to election," he said.

Williamson County hosted six live demonstrations of its new machines in August. It also purchased the Election Systems & Software system, at a cost of $4.4 million, replacing its old electronic-only system.

Caldwell County rolled out the same voting machines last year.

"There were some that were a little leery about it, but once they actually got to vote on it, they were really pleased with it," Caldwell County Elections Administrator Pamela Ohlendorf said. "We get our results a lot quicker than we have been in the past. In the last election, we had our results in by 9:10 p.m., where in the past it was after midnight."

In the five-county Austin metro area, Bastrop County is the only county that is still uses a solely paper ballot system. It does, however, provide electronic machines for people with disabilities or people who would prefer to use them.