Friends, neighbors, family run local elections

All the voting machines in Orange County have been calibrated and tested before being put out to the public. Plus, the machines are not connected to any internet server or wifi connection to allow hacking.

Orange County Elections Administrator Donna Alford made these assurances late Tuesday as accusations flew on a political Facebook page. The unverified comments drew so much attention that Precinct 2 County Commissioner Chris Sowell issued a Facebook statement reminding citizens that the 25 people running the local elections are our friends, neighbors, and relatives.

Sowell is a Republican, as is every other elected county official. City councils and school boards have non-partisan elections here.

The accusations came after word about some nine people finding a voting mistake on their paper ballot and asking an election judge to cancel, or "spoil" it, for a new ballot.

Elections Administrator Alford said that is part of the system to allow voters to double check that their ballot is being cast the way they want.

The voting advice is basically like every grade school teacher advised for tests--proof read. The screen asks the voter to proof their computer votes before printing out a paper ballot with those votes. Then the voter should proof read the paper ballot. That's how the voters with "spoiled" ballots discovered their mistakes.

This local system has been used in the past several elections.

Donald Trump won more than 80 percent of Orange County's votes in the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections. Statewide Texas officials are all Republicans and Trump carried the state by large margins in 2016 and 2020 to receive all the state's electoral votes. He is predicted to do the same this year.

Orange County during the past 30 years created a separate elections administration office. Grants have helped the county build separate facilities for elections with a full-time staff specializing in operating elections.

The grants have come from federal and state levels as both national and state legislators have recognized the need for fair and honest elections.

The local election administration office works closely with the Texas Secretary of State, who is appointed to the position by the governor. Texas has had Republican governors since George W. Bush took office in 1995.

Before the Orange County Elections Administration Office was created, elections were overseen by the county clerk's office.

Donna Alford, the current Orange County Election Administrator, has worked in the office for 33 years and replaced the original administrator when she retired.

Alford and her staff are paid by Orange County. They are constantly trained on changing election laws and how to operate and choose equipment.

In the past few years with the county acquiring electronic voting machines and keeping up with the election laws, the cities, school boards, and special districts in the county have contracted and paid the elections administration office to oversee their elections. The political parties also pay to have their primary elections held by the county elections administration office.

Election judges and poll workers are paid for hourly contracted work. The pay is close to a local fast food restaurant worker. The poll workers and election box judges all have training on rules and regulations for taking identifications, checking voter roles, and overseeing the operations at each voting box for each vote.

Many of those workers have spent several years at their jobs and take it seriously as part of a democracy. Some of the local election workers participate in Republican politics and some in Democratic politics. Some are non-partisan.

Elections Administrator Alford said the voting machines Orange County uses have paper backups on every step. A voter verified with accepted identification and listed as a registered voter goes to a machine. The ballot choices are shown on a computer screen. The voter can use a finger or a stylist.

Alford said sometimes a finger could accidentally drop a bit and hit an unintentional choice, and that is why people should pay attention. The voter may go back and change a touch choice at any point until the button is pushed to submit. Then the paper copy is printed out for the voter to place into the registered lock box.

If the voter notices a mistake on the paper ballot, they should go to an election judge at the poll and report it. The ballot with the mistake will be "spoiled" and registered. A new registered ballot may be issued.

At the end of Tuesday, the second day of early voting, Orange County had a total o 7,036 ballots with 6,378 in person and 650 mail-in votes.

Early voting polls will be open this Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Then on Saturday, October 26, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., and again on Sunday, October 27, from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. Polls will then be open 12 hours a day, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., on Monday, October 28, through Friday, November 1.

The early boxes are at the Orange Public Library, the Orange County Airport, the Mauriceville Community Center, and Raymond Gould Community Center.

Registered Orange County voters may cast a ballot at any of the early voting sites. Texas law requires voters to show an official photo identification like driver's license, DPS identification card, U.S. passport, or Texas concealed weapon card. Student identifications are not accepted.