Republicans tell Brazos County primary voters to proofread their ballots.
That’s because there are races with more than seven candidates. In those races, voters have to touch a button on Brazos County voting machines to see the remaining candidates.
The first person to contact WTAW News requesting assistance with educating voters was the chairman of the Brazos County Republican Party, Russ Ford.
Ford and a candidate for the Republican nomination for congressional district 10 whose name is not seen until voters hit the button to see the remaining choices, Ben Bius, told WTAW News they want signage at Brazos County voting locations informing voters that some races will require the additional step to see all candidates.
Bius also told WTAW News “I feel like this has harmed me and the other candidates. And I know that all the folks on that ballot want to have a fair election.”
Brazos County elections administrator Trudy Hancock told WTAW News “I feel that the voters of Brazos County are intelligent voters. They can follow the instructions to see the full field of candidates.”
WTAW News also took a phone call from a Brazos County voter to report what happened when he made his selection for a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, which is another race with more than seven candidates. After the voter touched the button to see the remaining candidates, he said the voting machine changed his selection. WTAW News contacted Hancock about what the voter described as the machine flipping his vote. Hancock said she took that machine out of service. She said that was after she attempted to replicate the issue and could not get the machines to do so. She said she took the machine in question off-line out of an abundance of caution.
Click below to hear comments from Russ Ford, Ben Bius, and Trudy Hancock, all visiting with WTAW’s Bill Oliver.
Listen to “Republicans tell Brazos County primary voters to proofread their ballots” on Spreaker.