RICHMOND, Texas (Covering Katy News) — Some Fort Bend County voters experienced significant delays at polling locations Tuesday afternoon after a clerical error caused check-in systems to malfunction across the county.
Check-In System Goes Down Across Fort Bend County Polling Locations
Fort Bend County Election Administrator Chase Wilson said the problem was traced to an incorrect file being uploaded to the poll book system. A voter file from the May 2 city and school election was mistakenly loaded into the primary runoff database, rendering check-in tablets non-functional at polling locations countywide.
Provisional Ballots Offered as County Works to Restore System
Wilson said the issue was discovered around 2:30 p.m. and the county immediately contacted its vendor, which provided a fix. Voters who were unable to check in during the outage were offered provisional ballots, and paper combination forms were provided on the advice of the Texas Secretary of State's office. Wilson said the glitch did not affect the integrity of the election or the accuracy of ballot totals — only the check-in process.
All Polling Locations Back Online Before Press Conference
Wilson said all affected polling locations were back online before a press conference held Tuesday afternoon.
"One hundred percent of all issues have been resolved at the polling locations," Wilson said.
Judge Wong Says He Would Have Extended Hours — But the Decision Wasn't His
Fort Bend County Judge Daniel Wong said he would have acted if he could, but the authority to request extended hours during a primary rests with the party chairs, not the judge.
"If this were a November election, I would request an extended voting time," Wong said. "During a primary election, the two party chairs have the authority to ask for an extension of voting time. I do not have that authority."
GOP Chairman Calls for Extended Voting Hours
Republican Party Chairman Greg Barnes said the outage has deepened public concerns about the reliability of the voting system.
"The public is already very skeptical of our voting system, and today's software update failure that took down the voter check-in system has only increased those concerns," Barnes said. "As Chairman of the Republican Party, I support keeping the polls open for additional hours to ensure every eligible voter has a fair opportunity to cast their ballot."
Democratic Party Declined to Join Republicans in Requesting Voting Hour Extension
Under Texas law, both parties must jointly agree to go before a judge to request an extension of voting hours, Wong said. The Democratic Party chairwoman did not appear at the press conference, and both the state and local Democratic Party declined to pursue extending voting hours according to Wong spokesman Bobby Eberle.
"Unfortunately, the Democrat Party Chair would not agree to move forward with extending voting hours," Barnes said. "This is most disappointing as this should be a time when partisan differences should be set aside for the good of all Fort Bend County residents."
Barnes added: "I don't believe voters should be penalized because of failures in the election system outside of their control. This is not the time for politics. This is the time for doing what is right."
Polls Now Closed
Polls closed at 7 p.m. Tuesday. What is still unclear is how long it will take to county the provisional ballots that were cast on Tuesday.