Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton Addresses Blank Ballot Adjudication Concerns, Demands Release of Machine Audit Logs

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has recently taken significant action by demanding the release of machine audit logs, aiming to address the growing concerns over the adjudication of ‘blank ballots’ in the state’s elections, Creative Destruction Media (CDM) reported.

The request follows numerous open records requests across the nation, which have unearthed potential evidence of widespread election fraud.

The controversy centers on the practice of designating a large number of ballots as ‘blank’ by electronic voting systems and subsequently adjudicating them via software—a process that could alter votes,

A notable example occurred in Broward County, FL, during the 2020 elections, where up to 20% of ballots in some precincts were marked ‘blank.’

You can read more below: 

Report: Hundreds of Thousands of Florida Ballots Were Flagged as “Blank” and Later Adjudicated (Updated)

Efforts to obtain audit logs of election machines have been met with resistance. Many jurisdictions have refused to release the data, prompting speculation that the disclosure could reveal fraudulent activities.

In Florida, the concern over these revelations was so significant that the legislature passed a law, under the guise of an ‘election integrity bill,’ to block access to these crucial reports, according to CDM.

Upon becoming aware of these issues, AG Paxton issued a directive requiring the release of these logs within Texas.

According to the letter sent to Jessica Morrison, Assistant County Attorney:

You ask whether certain information is subject to required public disclosure under the Public Information Act (the “Act”) chapter 552 of the Government Code. Your request was assigned ID# 23-091394 (Ref. No. 2023-1117-PIA).

The Williamson County Attorney’s Office (the “county attorney’s office”) received a request for specified equipment manuals, audit logs, and communications.

You claim the submitted information is excepted from disclosure under section 552.101 of the Government Code. Additionally, you state release of this information may implicate the proprietary interests of Election Systems & Software, LLC (ES&S”).

Accordingly, you state, and provide documentation showing, you notified these ES&S of the request for information and of its right to submit arguments to this office as to why the information at issue should not be released. See Gov’t Code § 552.305(d); see also Open Records Decision No. 542 (1990) (statutory predecessor to section 552.305 permits governmental body to rely on interested third party to raise and explain applicability of exception in the Act in certain circumstances). We have received comments from ES&S. We have considered the submitted arguments and reviewed the submitted representative sample of information.

We note the submitted information consists of manuals and documents relating to the use of electronic voting equipment provided to Williamson County by ES&S. We note the requestor has a right of access to this information pursuant to section 123.008 of the Election Code. Section 123.008 of the Election Code provides, in relevant part, as follows:

(a) Each person who sells, leases, or otherwise provides an electronic voting system or equipment to a political subdivision shall also provide any user or operator manuals or other instructions or documents relating to the use of the system or equipment. The general custodian of election records for the political subdivision shall make those materials available for public inspection in the custodian’s office on the request of any person.

Elec. Code § 123.008(a): see id. §$ 1.005(13) (defining “political subdivision”) 121.003(1)-(2). (4) (defining “voting system.” “electronic voting system.” and “voting system equipment). Upon review, we find the requestor has a right of access to the submitted information pursuant to section 123.008 of the Election Code.

You can read the letter here.