Poll watchers receive boost from Paxton

A sign in Hill County says it all -- poll watching only goes so far

"... a watcher is entitled to observe any activity conducted at the location at which the watcher is serving.  A watcher is entitled to sit or stand conveniently near the election officers conducting the observed activity. A watcher is entitled to sit or stand near enough to the member of a counting team who is announcing the votes to verify that the ballots are read correctly or to a member who is tallying the votes to verify that they are tallied correctly." --Texas Election Code 33.056.

Attorney General Ken Paxton issued an opinion on Monday strongly supporting the legal right of poll watchers to observe election and vote-counting activity. But the opinion stopped short of calling for electronic images of all ballots as a means to stamp out voter fraud -- mainly because it's still a matter before the Third Court of Appeals.

Opinion KP-0118

According to the Austin American-Statesman ...

Paxton’s opinion was requested by Llano County District Attorney Wiley McAfee in September. 

Paxton, however, declined to address McAfee’s biggest question — whether state law requires electronic voting booths to store an image of each ballot as a fraud prevention measure — because the issue is being addressed by the courts. 

Laura Pressley, an unsuccessful 2014 candidate for the Austin City Council, is seeking a new election, arguing that state law required voting booths to capture an image of each ballot, not merely report vote totals for each candidate. A state district judge tossed out Pressley’s lawsuit, and the issue is now before the Austin-based 3rd Court of Appeals.

Read more: http://www.mystatesman.com/news/news/state-regional-govt-politics/ken-paxton-issues-warning-on-poll-watchers/ns5KN

Dr. Pressley, who has been a tireless reformer of ballot integrity, issued a Facebook post today identifying an arena of election activity in which poll watchers are often not allowed to observe:

Official poll watchers from the Republican and Libertarian Parties have been obstructed from monitoring the Central Counting Station main tabulation computers and the audit log printers in Travis and Dallas counties. See the Hill County sign that says it all [posted above]. Watchers are battling with Secretary of State's office on the interpretation of Texas Election Code statute 33.056...poll watchers are "entitled to observe any election activity."

Paxton wrote in his opinion "watchers may 'observe the inspection and securing of [voting system] equipment in the jurisdiction of the authority responsible for distributing election supplies to the polling place at which the watcher is appointed to serve' [TEC 33.056] and may accompany an election officer delivering election records."

According to our understanding, poll watchers are allowed into the area containing the central counting station (a master computer used to tabulate the results of individual voting machine reports) only after 7 p.m. in Travis County.

Presidential candidate Donald Trump raised the profile of a growing number of conservatives who believe the electronic voting system used under the Help America Vote Act (HAVA -- passed after the 2000 Florida voting crisis) is either potentially open to foul play or has already been "rigged" in favor of certain candidates. Dr. Pressley noticed some irregularities in her Austin City Council election results and believes certain voting machines were left open for manipulation.

In the typical tit-for-tat fashion of the Barack Obama Administration, the U.S. Justice Department was deployed. According to the Statesman, the Obama DOJ "will send election observers to polling places in 28 states Tuesday, including locations in Harris, Dallas and Waller counties in Texas. Monitors with the agency’s Civil Rights Division will gather information on compliance with voting rights laws and access to the ballot box — particularly whether voters face different treatment based on race, ethnicity, language or disability ..."

Politically motivated alarm about state Voter ID laws added fuel to this unnecessary fire, causing many on the left to fear that Republican officials are making concerted efforts to bar members of racial minority groups and the impoverished from voting in large numbers. Attempts to secure polling places (such as Voter ID laws or Paxton's opinion) are often maligned as "racist" or elitist by Democrat mouthpieces.

Short version: This may be a long night in places across Texas.