Texas Election Management System Works out Flaws

July 21, 2008 By Patrick Michels

work themselves out over time," said the Brennan Center's Levitt. "These are massive, massive new pieces of infrastructure."

As important as voting is to all Americans, Levitt said, we spend little money on the elections process, a burden that worsens as political engagement increases, as it has this year. "We tend to do elections on the cheap, and we get what we pay for. We have built a system that often isn't equipped for the sort of turnout we're seeing now," Levitt said.

"Having these records computerized really helps counties deal with the influx of people," he said. "Once they're up and running, it makes administration of elections much easier in the long run."

Levitt said the biggest challenge that states such as Texas face in bringing new systems online and troubleshooting them - in an arena as sensitive as elections management - is the public's expectations. "It's unrealistic for it to be 100 percent smooth from the get-go," he said. "But from the voter's perspective, it does have to be 100 percent smooth."

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Comments

Scot | Commented July 25, 2008

Now that the valid photo ID required casting a ballot law has been upheld, the long time practice of ballot box stuffing should be harder. Am I the only one who wonders who would be elected in a fair election? Most assuredly not the current crew who have Gerrymandered districts of safety.

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