The Courier of Montgomery County reports that a resolution has been approved by Montgomery County Commissioners that will allow for a manual recount of randomly selected voting precincts following elections. This would include the November 5th presidential election.
The move comes following commissioners rejection of a software upgrade to its voting machines in September. The concerns were that the ballots could be tampered with or the machines hacked. Many residents asked for a manual recount during a September 27th workshop meeting.
Several discussions on the issue prompted County Judge Mark Keough to look for guidance from the elections division of Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson’s office.
Keough said he “asked if it would be permissible to add precincts to the partial recount.” Keough was told by Secretary Nelson that locally choosing random precincts was “above and beyond” the provisions of the law, so it was permissible.
Montgomery County Election Administrator Suzie Harvey was in agreement with a recount for local voting precincts.
