Did New Voter Confusion Doom Beto's Chances?

 

SAN ANGELO, TX — The voting process can be confusing to newly registered voters casting ballots for the first time and that’s nothing new.  Tom Green County Elections Administrator Vona Hudson Thursday said the Secretary of State’s office was concerned enough about the surge in voter registration that they sent out a flyer to be posted in every precinct reminding voters to confirm their choices before casting a ballot.  

The high interest in the race for U.S. Senator from Texas between Beto O’Rourke and Ted Cruz saw the Democrat and Republican parties registering new voters, especially young voters under the age of 30.  The Secretary of State in the first week of early voting sent a flyer to all 254 counties in Texas that was to be posted in every voting precinct that reads: “Make sure to confirm that your summary page accurately reflects your choices BEFORE casting your ballot!”

Still, 291 voters cast ballots in Tom Green County without voting in the Senate race.  That’s called an under vote. That isn’t a large enough number to affect the Senate race.  It’s less than one percent, but in the down ballot races the number was much higher. There were under votes in every race on the ballot.  

In the middle of the ballot were the races for Justice for the Third Court of Appeals.  All four incumbent Republicans were defeated by Democrat challengers in the 24-county district.  In Tom Green County there were between 1,300 and 1,400 under votes in each of those four races.

In the race for Tom Green County Commissioner in Pct 4.  Incumbent Republican Bill Ford got 8,167 votes and write-in candidate Gilbert Gallegos got 892.  There were 1,883 under votes.

On the very bottom of the ballot were the two bond propositions for the San Angelo ISD.  Proposition A failed by 2,946 votes and proposition B failed by 3,964 voters.  On proposition A, there were 2,088 under votes and on proposition B there were 2,085 under votes.  

The further down the ballot, the higher the number of under votes.  Hudson said there’s no way to know what happened but there is a possibility that some of those voters simply didn’t scroll down to the bottom of the ballot and make a choice and cast the ballot without reviewing the summary page.  

Hudson says that’s not a new issue.  Voters who register for the first time are unfamiliar with the process and mistakes are made.  Even when there were only paper ballots some voters would forget to turn the ballot over and vote in the races on the back.  

The results are not official yet.  Hudson says the ballot board will meet on Friday Nov. 16 to count provisional and mail in ballots.  Tom Green County Commissioners will canvass the results during their regular meeting on Tuesday Nov. 20.  There are not enough outstanding uncounted ballots to likely change the outcome of the local election as already published, Hudson said.

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Good grief, can a Democrat not lose an election without an excuse? Hillary lost and it was the Russians. Beto loses and it's voter confusion or Beyoncé not supporting him in time. Lord have mercy, but you are a ragtag bunch of whiners.

Listen, Beto lost because the majority of voters in Texas didn't buy his liberal socialist policies supported by an influx of millions from California liberals. Heck, he lost practically every county in the state. The only counties who really supported him were metro/border areas, which historically vote liberal (why, I do not know.) Well, I know, but I digress.

Take your loss like a man, Yantis, and quit your dang whining. You're embarrassing yourself.

Beto "Miclo" O'Rourke lost because his campaign was lame, he acts like he's permanently high, (and not a "fun" high,) and he's a socialist in Texas. Yet his zombified campaign lives on, not unlike Hillary's. The Dems need better, and more representative, candidates.

https://youtu.be/ah6I-DG1tTQ
(NSFW)

I think you are mistaking reporting for advocacy. I can certainly understand why that might happen given the way the major media businesses operate these days. Mr. Green is a member of a dying breed, the honest journalist. I think he is just trying to report others concerns. Down ballot issues are going to be even more concerning now that straight party voting is gone. If there is a way to avoid mistakes in the ballot process we should. Having said that I do agree with you about the rest. Almost everyone who fails to vote down ballot does so on purpose. Many responsibly simply don't know who is best credentialed and choose not to make a mistake. Had more Democrats made that responsible choice perhaps we would not have had great jurists like Scott Field and David Puryear lose to folks who have had their law degrees for less time than David has been on the bench.

It doesn't sound like an excuse. He clearly says it wouldn't have changed the outcome. But it is concerning that people forgot to vote in the race. Why can't we make it easy and automatically register everyone over 18 to vote? Or allow same day registration at all polling places? Then you show your ID and go vote? Why can't we have Ranked choice voting so there are no runoffs and so weird 3rd party candidates that receive 2% or less won't affect the outcomes? This is much simpler in other states and countries.

Maybe the problem was all the tampering with the machines. Made them malfunction.

It seems the aging voting machines turn conservative and take the blue votes and turn them red.

Being incompetent to read and follow directions isn’t confusion it’s incometence! Stop excusing people for lack of education or attention to details. I’d like to see how the balance their checkbook!

You can’t be serious in writing this story?! This election was very simple. If folks didn’t understand that, they shouldn’t be voting! This is completely different than a machine malfunction and has nothing to do with the party of either candidate. They STILL offered paper for those that didn’t like the electronic machines. This is just crazy to even bring this up!

I can't argue with your comments. It's like when there were some conservatives during early voting that complained the machine switched their botes.... uhhhh, did you not read the confirmation page at the end before pressing the final button?

Lazy T, Thu, 11/08/2018 - 14:52

Beto is nacho senator! It is over, get counseling or whatever. Beto lost the election, and some are saying even though he lost, he still won....discussion for later. I do not see Republicans rioting in the streets because they lost the house. I don't think there are any "comfort" rooms for Republicans to go to in order to weep privately because they lost the house. In Willie Nelson words...it is something you just get through. Move on about Beto, good grief.

It's not so much about Beto but is about the sinate being out of control confirming whatever/whoever on a party line vote, besides stealing a SC seat, part of those christian morals I suppose.

That’s a wonderful hypothesis! No one ever said liberals don’t have a creative imagination. I will give you some practical advice. When you go out and recruit illegals and find away to register them go ahead and teach them how to vote! Y’all are so arrogant you just naturally think they know what a Democrat is. Look at it this way we did Beto a favor. Now he can focus on his family.

Maybe some of the voters did not skip the box maybe they just did not like either of them and intentionally left it blank. That goes for any other spots that were missed on the bond elections. Just figure some did not want to have anything to do with it or did not care how it went as long as they were not a part of it.

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