More than a third of mail-in ballots received in Tarrant County, Texas, have been rejected by scanning machines – over 22,000 votes are affected so far.
Tarrant County Elections Administration Heider Garcia attributed the problem to improperly printed bar codes that machines have not been able to read.
“What we believe at this point, is that the print shop that did these ballots for us, basically, can improve the quality of the printing,” Garcia said.
This is the first year Tarrant County has outsourced ballot printing. The change was made specifically with the anticipated increase in mail-in voting in 2020 in mind. The County worked with a company called Runbeck Election Services in Phoenix, Arizona on the change.
To correct the problem ballot board members will be working 12-hour shifts to replicate and scan ballots. Employees will use an electronic machine to replicate the ballots and then submit them for review by board members. Board members will then verify that a print out of both ballots match.