Caldwell County votes on a hybrid paper-ballot system: you mark your ballot on a touchscreen, the machine prints it, you check it, and you feed the paper ballot into a scanner yourself.
Caldwell County’s voting system
The voting system includes ExpressVote ballot marking devices and DS200 digital scan precinct tabulators available at every Caldwell County polling location, as well as DS450 central high-speed digital scanners and tabulators used in Central Count to tabulate ballots received by mail. With the voting system, voters receive a blank ballot at check-in to insert into the ExpressVote ballot marking device and make their selections.
After reviewing their selections on the screen, voters print the ballot. Once voters have reviewed the selections printed on the ballot, they insert the ballot into the DS200 digital scanner for tabulation.
This hybrid system allows for the convenience and accuracy of electronic voting, as well as the security of an auditable paper ballot that can be used for manual recounts.
ExpressVote — ballot marking device
The ExpressVote uses touchscreen technology that produces a paper-based ballot for tabulation. As a marking device, ExpressVote handles the entire marking process, eliminating marginal marks and the need for interpretation of the voter’s mark. Voters receive an activation card (ballot) with their ballot style printed on the card to begin the process. Voters insert an ExpressVote ballot card into the marking device, make their selections, verify the selections made, and print the ballot. Voters then review the selections printed on the ballot for accuracy before taking the ballot over to the DS200 for tabulation.
DS200 — precinct scanner and tabulator
The DS200 is a polling-location-based scanner and vote tabulator that combines the flexibility and efficiency of digital-imaging technology to support paper-based voting — taking traditional optical-scan ballot vote tabulation into the twenty-first century.
DS450 — high-speed central scanner and tabulator
The DS450 high-speed central scanner and vote tabulator is the fastest central scanner in the election industry. The system is used at Central Count to tabulate ballots received by mail. The DS450 continuously scans and intelligently sorts ballots with its high-speed digital image processing, saving election staff valuable time when tabulating results.
Accessibility — universal voting
The equipment manufacturer, Election Systems & Software (ES&S), states that it “follows all ADA requirements” and works with voters with disabilities, advocates and accessibility experts to test its equipment, so that every voter can vote with anonymity on a universal voting system. To protect voter privacy, the printed vote summary card does not specify whether assistive devices were used to conduct a voting session.
Read the manufacturer’s ADA / universal voting statement (PDF). For what Caldwell County provides at the polling place, see Accessible Voting.
Certification of voting systems
- All voting systems must be certified by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC), created by the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) in 2002.
- The Texas Election Code requires all voting systems to be approved by the Secretary of State before they may be used in any Texas election.
Key facts on the security of voting machines
- Voting machines in Texas are not connected to the internet. In order to be certified in Texas, the machines cannot even have the capability of connecting to the internet.
- Electronic pollbooks certified by the Texas Secretary of State are connected to the internet, but they are never connected to any device that casts or tabulates votes.
- Only software certified by the Texas Secretary of State can be loaded on voting equipment. As an added security measure, Texas law requires software to go through a hash validation process to verify that the source code of any voting software was not altered in any way.
- All voting machines are required to be tested for logic and accuracy three times — twice before each election, and once immediately after.
How the systems are tested
Systems are tested according to the guidelines set by the federal Election Assistance Commission (EAC). According to the EAC, its purpose is “to independently verify that voting systems comply with the functional capabilities, accessibility and security requirements necessary to ensure the integrity and reliability of voting system operation, as established in the Voluntary Voting System Guidelines (VVSG).” The ES&S testing protocol also involves testing by independent, accredited laboratories, and employs encryption and digital signing for all data in transit using cryptographic modules that meet the Federal Information Processing Standard.
Caldwell County’s own public logic-and-accuracy tests are noticed before every election — see Election equipment & public testing for the current notices.
Manufacturer resources
Caldwell County’s equipment is made by Election Systems & Software (ES&S). The manufacturer publishes voter-facing explanations of the equipment:
- Casting a vote on the DS200 (video)
- Voting on the ExpressVote (video)
- How are ballots counted? (video)
- Voter resources
- The six layers of security that protect ES&S voting systems
- Universal voting
- Manufacturer frequently asked questions
These are the manufacturer’s own materials and are provided for reference. Questions about how an election is run in Caldwell County should go to the Elections Office.