By Rita Cook
Correspondent
Texas Metro News
DeSoto City Council
DESOTO – Everyone’s vote should count. The residents in DeSoto all believed their vote was counted this past November too.
Apparently, it was not. According to Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price an apology is “not acceptable,” when it comes to Dallas County having paid Election Systems & Software (ESS) $35 million over the years for its products and services, which includes ensuring every Dallas County voter’s vote counts.
There were 190 voters in the city of DeSoto this past November election season who experienced voter disenfranchisement.
Price said in a phone interview this week, “I hold them (ESS) responsible, but part of it is Dallas County as well.” He also added “We have not brought in the kind of technical experts on the ground that we needed, but we are in this together.” Price also pointed out that it was not just Dallas County that had issues with ESS, it was the State.
“We will see what the state does,” he said. DeSoto Councilmember Place 6 Crystal Chism however wasn’t waiting for the state’s decision. Instead, she was looking out for DeSoto voters when she spoke on behalf of her constituents at the Dallas County Commissioners Court in December. “I found out about the defective polling books at the Commissioners Court November 19 meeting,” Chism explained. “There were originally four polling locations that had discrepancies in the count however after troubleshooting from the Elections office all but DC3’s 190 votes were counted.”
Chism continued, “Readers should know that the Election Administration is blaming the issue on defective software and that as a result of the polling clerks attempting to reset to resolve the delays and the freezing of the polling books the prior entry was lost.
“Since Commissioners Court approved the canvass of votes at the November 19 meeting there’s nothing that can be done. It’s an awareness and if the Commissioners do not vote to find a new company this could happen again.” As for what happened at Disciple Central Community Church in DeSoto with its voter 190 count inaccuracy it was explained that it was discovered when of the 17,800 registered voters who voted, the total that was reviewed continued to show 17,600 votes.
Elections Administrator Heider Garcia secured a court order regarding the DeSoto vote count discrepancy and reviewed the ballot boxes. It was then determined that the problems that caused the ballot count mishap at the DeSoto early voting location was company error. And while Commissioner Price noted he wants to see what the state plans to do about this situation with ESS, it is worth noting that the company’s four-year contract with Dallas County is up next summer.
Commissioners Theresa Daniel and Price were the two who had opposed the Omaha-based company being awarded the contract in 2022. “I had several people reach out to me who were watching live, and in the audience saying thank you for speaking up,” Chism concluded. “I’m sharing at the request of one of my supporters who said we must educate the community. Of all the places this could have happened I’ll be damned if it happens in DeSoto. Totally unacceptable and Dallas county deserves better.”
