Does Tarrant County need to number ballots? Here’s what election administrator says
Speaking with the Star-Telegram after Tuesday’s Tarrant County Commissioners Court session, Election Administrator Clint Ludwig would not say whether he supported pre-numbered ballots. He did say, however, that they are not necessary to ensure election integrity.
“I can provide free, fair, secure elections with pre-numbered ballots, and I can do it without pre-numbered ballots,” he said. “If it is the wish of the Election Board, the Election Commission and the court that we have numbers, then I will provide that. If it is the wish that we don’t have numbers, then I can do it that way as well. I will do my job. And I will provide it with the means that I’m asked to do it in.”
When asked why Tarrant County needs pre-numbered ballots if he can provide free and fair elections without them, Ludwig responded, “That’s not a question for me.”
His comments came after a heated commissioners court session during which Precinct 2 Commissioner Alisa Simmons asked Mark Kratovil, a lawyer with the District Attorney’s Office, if the Tarrant County Election Board has the authority to compel Ludwig to use pre-numbered ballots.
The board voted along party lines to use pre-numbered ballots earlier this month after Ludwig briefed county commissioners on the issue.
Following that decision, the Star-Telegram spoke with a ballot design expert, a computer scientist and a board certified campaign and legislative lawyer, all of whom said that pre-numbered ballots do not prevent voter fraud.
Commissioners send pre-numbered ballots issue to closed session
Having stated during Tuesday’s session that he could only provide a “high-level aggregate of the topic,” Kratovil responded that the answer entailed legal analysis and thus would need to be discussed in a closed session.
“To the extent that you’re asking me to apply this to a specific situation, I would say that that’s a privileged conversation that would best be left for closed session,” Kratovil said.
According to the Texas Open Meetings Act, a governmental body is authorized to deliberate in closed session if a topic entails consultation with an attorney on pending or contemplated litigation, a settlement offer or a matter in which the attorney’s duty conflicts with chapter in the Texas government code on open meetings.
A message left with the Texas Attorney General’s Open Government Hotline seeking clarification was not immediately answered.
“You should just answer the question,” Simmons told Kratovil. Referring to a meeting with him, her staff and three constituents, she said, “What you told us before is, yes, the election administrator can decide to use the pre-numbered paper or stick with blank paper.”
Kratovil said the election board approves the procurement of supplies and makes sure they’re necessary and sufficient for conducting elections.
“The elections administrator is then in some cases an employee of the county, in some cases, an officer of the county, and in conducting elections he would likely be deemed an officer of the county,” Kratovil said. “There’s some authority he has then in terms of how to carry out the job.”
County commissioners spar over pre-numbered ballot issue
Things got heated when Simmons, on Kratovil’s advice, introduced a motion to waive the attorney-client privilege and allow the attorney to answer her specific question about the board’s authority to compel Ludwig to use pre-numbered ballots.
In the vote, it appeared that Precinct 3 Commissioner Gary Fickes initially joined Simmons and Precinct 1 Commissioner Roy Brooks in voting to pass the motion, but County Judge Tim O’Hare stepped in to confirm that Fickes had intended to vote yes.
When Simmons objected, O’Hare said, “I will run the court, you will not.”
It was the second time in the court session that O’Hare responded to Simmons in such a manner.
“Have a semblance of class,” he told her.
Fickes changed his vote in the second round, quashing the motion.
Speaking in public comment, Kennedy Jones, president of the Arlington branch of the NAACP advised O’Hare to conduct the session with “decorum.”
Referring to this and a previous incident in which O’Hare told Simmons, “You’ll sit there and be quiet,” Jones said: “It is demeaning and it is offensive to the people of Precinct 2. We are better than that. Judge, I know you’re better than that. Those words harken back to a time when women could not vote, to a time when they were virtually owned by their husband or male companion, so your words came with a sting and a bite. That was offensive not just to the commissioner, but to every woman who is sitting in this room and to every woman who is listening online today.”
