To increase transparency, Tarrant County has adopted new election software that will allow voters to view ballots and other election data.
During the 88th Legislative Session, Texas lawmakers passed a measure that requires counties to make some election documents available to the public. Documents include images of ballots and records of votes cast.
Tarrant County will use software called Ballot Verifier—run by Civera—which allows voters to compare records side-by-side to ensure that electronic and physical ballots match.
During a demonstration, Tarrant County Election Administrator Clint Ludwig said the new software will help voters analyze large amounts of election data.
“In case nobody’s noticed, there’s an election coming up in November that I’m sure people are going to be very, very interested in,” Ludwig said. “We look forward to providing this data and letting them sit at home and peruse at their convenience, not the government’s convenience.”
The county is the latest to adopt the software. Tarrant County currently only has election data from the March 2024 primaries available for review. However, Ludwig says the county is aiming to upload ballot images and other election information just weeks after each election.
Ludwig also addressed concerns about anonymity, explaining that voters in precincts that see fewer ballots will have their names redacted in public voter records. Additionally, election workers will go through each ballot image to redact any other identifying information before sending it to Ballot Verifier.
“There are individuals who believe they need to sign their ballot. If I put that on the Internet, you have their name on their ballot. It’s no longer secret,” explained Ludwig.
President of Advancing Integrity, Christine Welborn, told Texas Scorecard, “This system and others like it are vital to improving transparency and restoring public trust in elections.”
Civera’s CEO Adam Friedman has said that other Texas counties have shown interest in the software, including Denton County— already under contract—and Dallas County.
