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Public commenters press Collin County on poll book licenses and countywide voting security
Summary
Multiple public commenters urged Collin County to reconsider countywide voting and the use of Internet-connected electronic poll books, citing ballot secrecy, auditability, and a possible mismatch with Texas Election Code 42.006; speakers urged staff and commissioners to act before the November election.
During public comment, Debbie Lindstrom (speaker 5) addressed consent agenda item 563 — an $80,000 purchase for poll book licenses — and urged the court to "opt out of the countywide polling place program" in favor of precinct-based voting to preserve auditability and ballot secrecy. Lindstrom cited a 1912 court ruling on ballot transparency and said she had inquired about emergency plans for catastrophic issues such as DDoS attacks, asking, "What's our plan if the Internet goes down during an election?" and requested a follow-up email within a week.
Later, Chuck Reynolds (speaker 11) and another commenter (speaker 12) reiterated concerns about ballot-marking devices and countywide vote centers. Reynolds argued that hand-marked paper ballots eliminate one "electronic translation" and repeatedly stated in a summary comparison that "Hanmark wins 7 of 8" while criticizing BMD processes and nontransparent barcodes. Speaker 12 urged the court to move to precinct-level voting for election day, noting there are "13 weeks or 92 days" to prepare before the November election and warning that current practices do not preserve voter intent or auditability.
