An election integrity group has sued Harris County, Texas, for failing to ensure vote secrecy while providing public records, a problem that could be resolved by switching to paper ballots.

The Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) filed a complaint Tuesday in federal court against Harris County, the seat of Houston, alleging that the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution were violated by failing to adequately ensure the secrecy of voters’ votes. However, one election integrity advocate believes that vote secrecy would be maintained by using paper ballots instead of letting machines create or mark the ballots.

PILF sued Harris County Clerk Teneshia Hudspeth, since she oversees the administration of elections in the county, and Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo, because her responsibility is to ensure that the county follows the state and federal election laws.

“Harris County has a voting system in place that allows ballots to be traced back to the individual voter,” according to the lawsuit. “To audit elections, Texas public disclosure laws make public both voting center election records and ballot disclosure, the combination of which allows anyone to trace certain voters back to their ballot. actual vote.”

“By using voting records from county vote centers as well as publicly available ballots of specific voters, it is possible to connect specific voters to their individual ballot to find out how they voted in that election. election.” the lawsuit alleges.

“For example, if voter John Doe, from Precinct 1, voted at voting center 1 at 2:15 p.m. on the first Tuesday of early voting, a ballot cast at 2:16 p.m. by a voter from Precinct 1 at voting center 1 can easily be traced. to voter John Doe. Poll books show where and when voter John Doe voted. The ballot paper indicates the time of voting and the constituency to which the voter belongs. the deposit continues.

“Due to current Texas law requiring public disclosure, some specific ballots have already been made available to the public and have been publicized by various news organizations,” according to the lawsuit.

Some voters’ ballots were publicly disclosed

An affidavit included in the lawsuit of Barry Wernick, who obtained ballots and voting records for the political party’s primary elections in Harris County this year, shows that he “discerned the judges’ ballots of the court of appeals, district court judges, state senators, state representatives, members of Congress and congressional candidates and, most ironically, the ballot of secretary of State of Texas, Jane Nelson, ” the lawsuit states.

“Current expert estimates indicate that using this analog method, approximately 10% of all Democratic primary voters and approximately 5% of all Republican primary voter ballots could be detectable simply by using the records public and legally available. For example, Mr. Wernick verified the votes of more than 28,000 Harris County voters.

The lawsuit also alleges that Harris County is not properly following the Texas Secretary of State’s guidelines regarding the deletion of election records, leading to the violation of ballot secrecy.

However, “even if voter information is redacted so that it becomes impossible for the general public to no longer be able to trace individual voters’ ballots, it is still possible for election officials to trace voters back to ‘to the ballots and vice versa because they have access to all the information necessary to associate a voter with their ballot,’ the lawsuit argues. “It is not better for the voter that the violation of their secret ballot be attributable to the county government rather than the general public.”

Confidentiality of ballots, a “guarantee”

The lawsuit explains that the importance of the secret ballot is to ensure that voters are not pressured to vote for a candidate.

“One of the most crucial functions of the secret ballot is to safeguard voter autonomy, protect them from undue influence, and help eliminate corruption from electoral choices. By ensuring votes are cast in private, individuals can express their preferences without fear of reprisal or social pressure.

THE pursuit requests The court requires that the county stop “making public voter identification information contained in voting records and ballots” and “refrain from viewing information that could lead to the discovery of the ballot d ‘a voter and to identify to anyone the vote or ballot paper of a voter’.

PILF President J. Christian Adams explained the importance of his group’s lawsuit. “The secret ballot is the cornerstone of political privacy and is protected by the 1st and 14th Amendments of the Constitution. » Adams said in a press release Wednesday. “Voters in Harris County have the right to vote without their friends and neighbors knowing who they voted for. The protection of the secret ballot is fundamental to the integrity of the electoral process.

Phill Kline, director of the Amistad Project’s election integrity group, said Just the news As of Thursday, that technology was a crucial issue for Harris County’s lack of voting secrecy. With the “digital world, you’re communicating with a two-way machine,” Kline said. However, “when communicating with a piece of paper, it is a one-way communication because the paper does not communicate back” and there is “no recording.”

“When you own machines, you have a record of everything that happens in the machine, and that will be preserved.”

He explained that ballot scanners can still be used safely in elections, but that elections should be conducted with paper ballots, not machines that create or mark ballots.

“I think there is a way to use scanners with paper ballots filled out by a voter if you do the right audits and run the election the right way,” so that “it’s transparent,” he said. Kline said, adding: “We really haven’t perfected it yet.

Cleta Mitchell, founder of the Election Integrity Network, said Just the news As of Thursday, Harris County has a history of election problems. “Harris County is one of the worst-run election offices in the country and that says a lot since there is serious competition for that title,” Mitchell said.

“So it doesn’t surprise me at all that Harris County doesn’t seem to be able to follow the law in this case any better than it follows it in the rest of its operations and functions. It’s time for the Texas Secretary of State to save Harris County voters from a series of problematic election administrators and make a serious effort to run elections in Harris County in a manner that complies with the laws state and federal.

The Harris County clerk and judge’s offices did not immediately respond to requests for comment Thursday.