Tom Green County commissioners back electronic voting tools, countywide polling and apply for $1.2 million DOT planning grant

Tom Green County Commissioners Court on Jan. 8 approved resolutions supporting the continued use of electronic poll books and electronic ballot-marking devices and reaffirmed support for countywide polling places, while also approving several budget adjustments, interlocal agreements with the City of San Angelo and a $1.2 million application to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s RAISE planning program.

The court voted to adopt a resolution opposing proposed legislation that would eliminate electronic poll books and electronic ballot‑marking devices, and separately adopted a resolution supporting countywide polling locations, after the county’s elections official outlined operational and staffing impacts if the technology were removed.

The elections official, identified in the record as Miss Hudson, said the proposed legislation would require a return to paper-based check-in and manual tallying that would slow vote verification and complicate the countywide vote-center model. "We would have to go back to paper and mark paper ballots," Hudson said. "It would have an effect of delaying us being able to produce lists of who voted because we…