Brazos County elections official warns federal recertification and state law changes could increase costs and require contingency planning

Brazos County Elections Administrator Trudy Hancock told the commissioners court on July 1 that a March federal executive order and planned action by the Elections Assistance Commission could change federal voting-system standards and potentially require recertification of equipment counties use.

The issue matters because Texas law bars the use of voting systems that are not EAC-certified; Hancock said the EAC has 180 days to review and, if appropriate, rescind or reissue certifications under the executive order. She also told the court that a state law change, S.B. 2753, will change Texas’ early-voting schedule and create new county costs and logistical requirements.

Hancock, a past president of the Texas Elections Officials Association and a member of the Secretary of State’s advisory committee, summarized the federal step first, saying: “An executive order is directed to federal offices such as Homeland Security, Social Security Administration, the US Secretary of State and the Elections Assistance Commission or the EAC. Executive orders are not directed to state or local governments.” She read from the order, noting the EAC’s 180-day review and that the order prohibits ballots in which “the vote is contained within that barcode or QR code except for ADA compliance.” Hancock added that the county’s Verity/ Hart system “does not tabulate votes using a barcode or a QR code. Verity uses OCR or optical character recognition to tabulate the votes.”

Hancock said the EAC has released a draft standard (expected to be called 2.1) and scheduled a public hearing on July 9; she said the commission had already received hundreds of comments on the draft. She noted that whether systems are recertified will depend on the EAC’s outcome.

Public speakers urged the court to plan for the possibility machines are decertified. Walter Doherty said the county should have a written contingency plan for hand-counting: “It’s prudent that we should plan ahead that if these machines are not recertified, that we will have a detailed written plan in place for hand counting the November” election, he told the court.

Kathy Vines, a county resident and frequent commenter on election issues, raised concerns about potential costs if the county’s voting system or poll‑book software must be recertified or replaced. “If Brazos does not get EAC certification, are we prepared to take on the financial consequences? How will that impact county property tax rates, which…will be decided in this court on August 27?” she asked.

Vines and another commenter, Veil Wiley, also urged the county to consider whether hand‑marked ballots and on‑demand printers should be part of contingency planning. Wiley told the court, “Hand marking ballots have and will continue to be the most transparent, verifiable, and trusted method of voting,” and she left a packet of questions for the election office.

Hancock described operational impacts from S.B. 2753, which moves Texas to a 12‑day early-voting period that will begin on the Wednesday 12 days before Election Day and extend through Election Day. She said Brazos County will open its five early‑voting locations on that Wednesday and will extend Sunday hours from 6 to 9 (hours referenced in her remarks). She told the court the change will raise payroll costs and comp time for staff because many election workers serve both early voting and election day roles and can no longer be reassigned between locations due to chain-of-custody rules.

Hancock also called attention to a specific statutory requirement that will affect logistics: section 127.1232 of the Texas Election Code requires recording and livestreaming whenever the early-voting ballot board handles or qualifies ballots; because early voting will continue in the building the board uses, she said the county must find alternate space or add livestreaming cameras.

On costs, Hancock offered a county estimate: the staffing and operational changes could increase county costs “probably upwards of $3,000 to $5,000 per election,” she said. She said Brazos County does not currently qualify for a newly opened HAVA grant the Secretary of State has made available (counties with 100,001–1,000,000 registered voters were allocated $52,000 with a 20% match), because Brazos County is already in compliance for the grant’s specific allowable upgrades.

Hancock described on‑demand ballot‑printing systems (where ballots are printed at check‑in and then scanned) and said one recent example—Collin County—spent $2.3 million to move to that system (noting Collin used part of an existing system). She reiterated that the county’s Verity/HART system uses OCR rather than barcode tabulation.

The court did not take a formal vote or adopt a new policy during the meeting; Hancock said the county will monitor EAC rule‑making and that the EAC hearing on the standard is July 9. Commenters asked the court to consider a written plan for hand counting as a contingency, and the election administrator said she had provided information to the court and to staff about likely operational and cost effects.

The court will canvass county votes after November’s election as required by state law; Hancock said canvassing will remain a county responsibility. Commissioners and staff indicated they will continue to brief the court as federal and state requirements evolve.