Dallas County elections officials, vendor demonstrate new poll books and voting equipment ahead of May election; some commissioners express staffing concerns

County elections officials and the vendor No Inc spent substantial time on Tuesday showing Commissioners Court how the new electronic poll books and ballot‑printing workflow will operate for the May municipal elections — a presentation intended to reassure local leaders after earlier problems with poll‑book performance.

Elections staff said the county completed a public logic‑and‑accuracy test for the voting equipment and has started a train‑the‑trainer program. Officials said judges and clerks will receive targeted hands‑on training: judges will have two hours specifically on the poll book within a five‑hour training block, and clerks one hour within their three‑hour training. The office also will provide optional “labs” where poll workers can get extra one‑on‑one practice with the devices.

Dan Peters, identified as a lead trainer from No Inc, told the court he had flown in to lead the train‑the‑trainer sessions and said the vendor can scale technical staffing for the county if needed. “Our goal is to make sure that nobody who is at the polling sites during early voting or election day has to be an IT specialist,” Peters said. “They should be able to plug it in and it should just work.”

Elections staff and the vendor demonstrated the three core devices that voters will see at vote centers: the poll pad (a check‑in tablet), a ballot printer that prints a paper ballot card indicating the voter’s ballot style, and a DS200 tabulator used to scan and count the paper ballot. Officials emphasized the workflow is paper‑backed: each voter’s selections print to a paper ballot that the voter can review before feeding it into the tabulator.

County representatives also announced a public demonstration event on April 2 at the elections warehouse where members of the public can inspect and test the equipment; staff said they will try to arrange at least one demonstration in the southern sector of the county as well so communities farther from the warehouse can see the devices.

Several commissioners praised the acceptance testing but raised questions about technical support and field deployment. Commissioner John Wiley Price said he remained “concerned about the technical people” who will support 61 early‑voting sites and 423 Election Day locations, and asked the elections office and vendor to ensure adequate roving technical staff and clear escalation processes. Elections staff replied that the vendor has two to five on‑site personnel now and can scale up under contract; county technical teams will supplement vendor support, and the county reported it has about 21 people assigned to support equipment setup and calls during early voting, with additional technicians for Election Day.

County and vendor officials urged poll workers and members of the public to attend training and the April 2 demonstration. The court did not take a formal vote on equipment procurement at the session; staff said acceptance testing and training efforts will continue through early voting.

Ending: The elections office said it will publish a training schedule and set of public demonstrations; commissioners requested updates on training completion and field‑support staffing as early voting approaches.