With news that Russia tried to hack into U.S. election systems in the 2016 elections, there have been concerns about the security of U.S. voting infrastructure and especially electronic voting machines. Specifically, there have been reports that some electronic voting machines can be manipulated remotely without leaving a trace. Even more troubling is the fact that such remote manipulation could even result in changing of vote totals on election day. These concerns are not new and have lingered for quite some time, yet even after the Russia experience in the 2016 elections, state election officials have not yet convinced the public(certainly not in Texas) that they can totally prevent such intrusions.



Unlike his counterparts in other states, the Texas Secretary of State has been notoriously unresponsive to questions about the security of Texas voting systems. The WV Secretary of State for example responded to questions from Election Integrity advocate Jennifer Cohn when she sought more information about the state’s newly acquired ES&S machines.

Our voting machines and tabulators do not come with remote access software. Also our machines require paper ballots and a paper trail. The only systems we have that touch the internet are our statewide voter registration system and our Election Night Reporting system. — WV Secretary of State (@wvsosoffice) April 26, 2018

The same desire by Secretaries of State to answer the public’s questions is also evident in other states but for some peculiar reason, there’s a zero desire for public accountability from the Texas Secretary of State’s Office. The best the Texas Secretary of State’s office has done to respond to public concerns about election security is the release of this 2/22/2018 YouTube Video of a Texas Senate Hearing on election security. Yours Truly has gone through the video and found the questioning by State Senator Judith Zaffirini(D-Laredo) beginning at 32:15 to be the most interesting.

From the excellent questions by Dem Senator Zaffirini we find out that out of the 254 Texas Counties, 164 use DREs which have no paper trail and that these DREs are predominantly used in large counties. This should send all kinds of alarm bells to the DNC because the large counties in Texas usually contain the large cities(Houston, Dallas, Austin)–ALL MAJOR DEM STRONGHOLDS. In other words, the Texas GOP has packed the unverifiable and easilyhackable DREs in counties where Dems get their most votes.

The DNC owes it to Senate Hopeful Beto O’Rouke and other Dems running in the state to get a DEFINITIVE ANSWER from the Texas Secretary of State’s Office as to exactly which counties are using these DREs and the measures they’ve taken to secure the vote given the fact that the machines don’t have a paper trail.

Better yet the DNC should DEMAND that all Texas voting machines have a paper trail

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You may reach the author via email at author@grassrootsdempolitics.com or author@emolumentsclause.com