NEWS
Texas counties protecting election integrity
AUSTIN — As Texans go to the polls March 3, Texas county election officials want to assure voters they are taking precautions to ensure the integrity of every vote cast.
In Texas, county government conducts most elections, from local to national polling, in their respective counties. County election officials have implemented new, state-mandated procedures to increase election security and transparency. These precautions include enhanced candidate information and election results reporting requirements. Counties also must complete annual training and adhere to a specific process for breach notification and remediation.
“Texas county clerks, elections administrators and voter registrars manage elections from the school board to the U.S. president,” said TAC Executive Director Susan M. Redford. “We’ve all heard the warnings of attacks on our voting systems. Texans can be reassured that our county clerks and other election officials strive to improve voter confidence in the election process, having worked with the state to implement procedures that make their preparation and Election Day work more transparent and secure.”
Last year, the Texas Legislature passed House Bill 1421, which added cybersecurity requirements to the Election Code (Chapter 279). HB 1421 added best practices for reducing the risk of electronic vote tampering and other cybersecurity measures. The law requires county election officials to take annual cybersecurity training and request a cybersecurity assessment of their county’s election system by the Texas Secretary of State Elections Division.
“This year we implemented tightened safety measures to make sure our elections are more secure,” said Hays County Elections Administrator Jennifer Anderson. “We were one of the first counties to complete the state’s election security assessment. Our focus was on the security of our voting equipment, chain of custody and facilities, particularly on equipment storage when it is not in use.”
For more on Texas counties’ elections role, visit http://www.texascountiesdeliver.org/ or watch https://youtu.be/qL_4pdF3IBI.
The second community meeting on needs for an emergency room or hospital in Bowie is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Nov. 19 at the Bowie Community Center.
This is the second meeting to discuss these needs following the closure of the Faith Community Health Center emergency room on Oct. 6, just shy of a year of operation. More than 200 people attended that first meeting, where discussion centered on the creation of a taxing district to support any sort of medical facility.
Citizens in the Bowie area are encouraged to attend and take part in these discussions.
The Bowie City Council has moved its Nov. 18 meeting to 6 p.m. on Nov. 19 where three new council members will take the oath of office.
Councilors include Laura Sproles, precinct two, Brandon Walker, precinct one and Laramie Truax, precinct two. After the votes are canvassed and the oaths given, a mayor pro tem will be selected.
The new members will jump right into training as City Attorney Courtney Goodman-Morris provides an orientation and discussion of duties for council members.
City Manager Bert Cunningham will make his monthly report on the following topics: Nelson Street, which opened last Thursday, update on the sewer line replacement project, substation transformer placement and information on medical companies.
A closed executive session on the Laura McCarn vs. City of Bowie lawsuit is scheduled. The suit arose in November 2022 when the city broached selling some 25 acres it owns on Lake Amon G. Carter, originally part of the land purchased for the 500-acre Bowie Reservoir completed in 1985.
McCarn challenges the ownership of the property stating it should revert to the original owners since it was not used for the lake.
This 24.35 acre tract is located at the end of Indian Trail Road surrounded by the lake and the Silver Lakes Ranch subdivision.
One of Bowie’s major thoroughfares, Nelson Street, was reopened Thursday after one busy block has been closed since August 2021 when a section of the street failed.
Construction finally came to an end on Thursday when the street, including the Nelson and Mill intersection were reopened. Mayor Gaylynn Burris, City Manager Bert Cunningham, Councilors TJay McEwen and Stephanie Post, Engineer Mike Tibbetts and Public Works Director Stony Lowrance met at the site Thursday morning and removed the barricades. It only took a few minutes for vehicles to start arriving and drivers were excited to go through on the new roadway.
This section of Bowie has endured flooding and drainage problems for many years and in the summer of 2023 the city council finally bit the bullet and sought bids for the repair work expected to top $3 million. In August 2021 a one block section of Nelson was closed when a large sinkhole appeared on the north side of the street. Traffic had to be diverted including all the school traffic flowing from the nearby junior high and intermediate.
Read the full story in the weekend Bowie News.
Top photo – (Left) Mike Tibbetts, engineer with Hayter Engineering, talks with Bowie City Manager Bert Cunningham as they look over the massive drainage project on Nelson Street.
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