Dallas canvassing committee forwards June 7 runoff canvass for Places 8 and 11 to full council

The Canvassing Committee of the City of Dallas voted on a motion to forward its canvass of the June 7 runoff election for City Council Places 8 and 11 to the full City Council during a brief meeting in June.

The committee received two reports: a cumulative report that breaks down early in-person, mail, provisional and election-day votes and a precinct-level report with turnout by precinct, the city secretary said. “It’s a very straightforward short report,” the city secretary said.

The city secretary described how the canvass identifies overvotes—ballots where a voter marked more than one candidate for the same race—and undervotes—ballots where a voter left the race blank. Overvotes and undervotes are flagged and reviewed by a group convened by the presiding election judge, the city secretary said. The city secretary identified Ryan Franklin as the presiding judge who oversees review of those ballots for this election.

According to the city secretary, when the review committee encounters a faint or ambiguous mark it examines the ballot; if the intent to select a single candidate is clear, the ballot is counted for that candidate, and if two selections are clear the ballot is recorded as an overvote and not counted for that race.

After the staff report, the committee chair asked whether there were questions; none were raised. A motion to move the canvass report to the full City Council was made, seconded and approved by voice vote. The chair announced, “Any opposed? Motion carries.” The meeting ended at 8:57 a.m.

No formal vote tally or the names of the motion’s mover and seconder were recorded in the meeting transcript.