CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Early voting is underway across Texas, but some Nueces County voters are spotting a mistake on their ballots. Some of the proposed amendments to the state's constitution are out of numerical order.
Conor Rice, who is involved in local politics, noticed the error when he voted last week.
"So I voted on Tuesday or Wednesday of last week. When I started I got into the system, someone had already texted me and said, 'hey are the amendments in order?' And I was like let me go vote I'll find out right now," Rice said.
Rice discovered the amendments were indeed out of order.
"The amendments were out of order. It went from 13 to 15, to 14, to 16. And I was like.. that's not normal," Rice said.
In a statement, Nueces County Clerk Kara Sands acknowledged that Propositions 14 and 15 are out of numerical order, however they are the correct proposition language and votes will be counted and tabulated accurately.
Rice believes the error poses several problems for voters.
"I specifically think about our seniors. I've been talking to a lot of seniors in our community, many on both sides of the political aisle. They have memorized I'm going to memorize yes on two amendments or three amendments. I have an order I'm going to memorize," Rice said.
He also argues the error is misleading to voters.
"In my opinion I think we're deceiving our voters by not following numbers. In first grade you learn numbers should go in order. If all other 253 counties in Texas can get their numbers straight and we can't, that's an error on us and not anyone else," Rice said.
According to Sands, the issue stems from a formatting problem. The county has procedures in place to check for errors, but this mistake was not caught by the logic and accuracy testing board, which includes both Democratic and Republican party representatives.
Sands said the county has posted notices at voting sites and election workers are informing voters during the check-in process. Sands also said with directive of the Texas Secretary of State, they will keep the ballots as is.
She emphasized that the integrity and accuracy of the election is not affected.
The Texas Secretary of State confirms this specific issue only happened in Nueces County.
Full statement from Kara Sands, Nueces County County Clerk:
Propositions 14 & 15 are out of numerical order. However, they are the correct proposition language, and your vote will be counted and tabulated accurately.
This error is due to a formatting issue. We have procedures in place to check for errors and unfortunately that was not caught by the Logic and Accuracy testing board – which is comprised of Democratic and Republican parties- during the required public test in which the voting system was tested, and the ballots were reviewed and approved.
When it was found, we immediately contacted the Secretary of State’s office. They advised us that since it was a simple numerical error that did not change the substance of the propositions, and because mail ballots had already been sent to voters and many had already been returned, a correction was not needed.
We have Notices posted at the polling locations and our election workers are informing the voters during the check-in process.
This does not affect the integrity or accuracy of the election. Your vote is secure and will be counted the way you intended.
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