Friday, November 7, 2008

County By County Presidential Voting Results

County by county voting results of the presidential race in Texas.

Texas
County

Obama McCain Total
County
Votes
Percent
of
Votes
Votes Percent
of
Votes
Votes
Starr 84 8,233 15 1,488 9,721
Zavala 84 3,263 15 596 3,859
Maverick 78 8,554 21 2,316 10,870
Brooks 76 1,747 24 556 2,303
Dimmit 75 2,692 24 874 3,566
Duval 75 3,298 24 1,076 4,374
Jim Hogg 74 1,336 26 472 1,808
Webb 72 33,435 28 13,111 46,546
Presidio 71 1,250 28 489 1,739
Willacy 70 3,405 30 1,454 4,859
Hidalgo 69 90,122 30 39,614 129,736
Zapata 68 1,939 32 918 2,857
El Paso 66 121,589 33 61,598 183,187
Culberson 65 510 34 267 777
Cameron 64 48,401 35 26,641 75,042
Travis 64 253,278 35 136,671 389,949
Frio 59 2,405 40 1,644 4,049
La Salle 59 1,051 40 713 1,764
Jim Wells 58 6,683 42 4,825 11,508
Dallas 57 424,468 42 309,477 733,945
Val Verde 55 6,982 45 5,752 12,734
Kenedy 53 108 46 93 201
Kleberg 53 5,251 46 4,539 9,790
Bexar 52 275,023 47 245,932 520,955
Reeves 52 1,605 47 1,444 3,049
Harris 51 588,611 49 570,143 1,158,754
Jefferson 51 44,854 49 42,877 87,731
Brewster 50 1,819 49 1,781 3,600
Fort Bend 49 98,136 51 102,846 200,982
Hays 48 28,416 50 29,624 58,040
Hudspeth 48 430 51 458 888
Caldwell 47 5,385 53 6,084 11,469
Nueces 47 47,811 52 52,264 100,075
Uvalde 47 4,120 52 4,585 8,705
Waller 46 7,107 53 8,238 15,345
Bastrop 45 11,678 53 13,797 25,475
Bee 45 3,645 55 4,467 8,112
Bell 45 40,185 55 49,066 89,251
Atascosa 44 4,400 55 5,546 9,946
Tarrant 44 274,101 56 347,843 621,944
Williamson 43 67,347 56 87,938 155,285
Refugio 42 1,382 57 1,853 3,235
Kinney 41 633 58 907 1,540
San Patricio 41 8,842 58 12,390 21,232
Calhoun 40 2,727 60 4,106 6,833
Galveston 40 41,543 59 61,844 103,387
Robertson 40 2,674 59 3,979 6,653
Falls 39 1,958 60 2,975 4,933
Fisher 39 687 61 1,083 1,770
Karnes 39 1,710 61 2,658 4,368
Marion 39 1,644 61 2,566 4,210
Morris 39 2,054 60 3,157 5,211
Camp 38 1,733 61 2,794 4,527
Denton 38 90,830 62 149,592 240,422
Foard 38 208 60 327 535
Jeff Davis 38 467 61 746 1,213
McLennan 38 29,959 62 49,005 78,964
Walker 38 7,323 61 11,610 18,933
Collin 37 108,208 63 184,116 292,324
Milam 37 3,040 63 5,215 8,255
Pecos 37 1,476 62 2,480 3,956
Coryell 36 6,611 63 11,537 18,148
Crosby 36 684 64 1,221 1,905
Goliad 36 1,329 63 2,298 3,627
Matagorda 36 6,682 64 11,929 18,611
San Augustine 36 1,327 63 2,338 3,665
Terrell 36 186 63 323 509
Brazoria 35 36,461 64 67,444 103,905
Brazos 35 20,459 64 37,403 57,862
Nacogdoches 35 8,393 62 14,828 23,221
Edwards 34 346 65 673 1,019
Gonzales 34 2,158 65 4,062 6,220
Guadalupe 34 16,070 65 30,750 46,820
Harrison 34 8,874 65 17,085 25,959
Titus 34 3,140 65 6,023 9,163
Wharton 34 4,935 65 9,427 14,362
Crockett 33 512 66 1,026 1,538
Haskell 33 699 66 1,388 2,087
Limestone 33 2,515 66 5,062 7,577
Medina 33 5,119 67 10,404 15,523
Navarro 33 5,399 66 10,803 16,202
Newton 33 1,750 66 3,440 5,190
Victoria 33 9,829 67 19,876 29,705
Wilson 33 5,360 67 10,903 16,263
Angelina 32 9,377 67 19,569 28,946
Grimes 32 2,704 67 5,561 8,265
Kaufman 32 11,157 68 23,727 34,884
Swisher 32 812 66 1,676 2,488
Terry 32 1,379 67 2,863 4,242
Trinity 32 1,924 67 4,091 6,015
Aransas 31 3,005 68 6,691 9,696
Bowie 31 10,801 69 24,136 34,937
Burleson 31 2,053 68 4,546 6,599
Castro 31 719 68 1,561 2,280
Grayson 31 13,892 69 31,122 45,014
Gregg 31 13,130 69 29,159 42,289
Houston 31 2,653 68 5,869 8,522
Lee 31 2,000 68 4,312 6,312
Lubbock 31 30,295 68 66,028 96,323
Polk 31 6,215 68 13,703 19,918
Red River 31 1,538 69 3,461 4,999
Blanco 30 1,466 70 3,417 4,883
Colorado 30 2,503 69 5,790 8,293
Fannin 30 3,464 69 8,090 11,554
Lynn 30 623 70 1,469 2,092
Nolan 30 1,521 69 3,485 5,006
Potter 30 8,932 69 20,741 29,673
San Jacinto 30 2,721 69 6,151 8,872
Smith 30 23,628 70 54,995 78,623
Wichita 30 13,828 69 31,673 45,501
Bailey 29 680 70 1,618 2,298
Cass 29 3,489 70 8,276 11,765
Ellis 29 15,315 71 38,046 53,361
Floyd 29 729 71 1,784 2,513
Hill 29 3,802 70 9,220 13,022
Hunt 29 8,591 70 20,571 29,162
Jasper 29 3,636 71 8,960 12,596
Lamar 29 5,240 71 12,940 18,180
Menard 29 295 70 712 1,007
Tom Green 29 11,068 71 27,201 38,269
Anderson 28 4,624 71 11,855 16,479
Cherokee 28 4,605 71 11,693 16,298
Dawson 28 1,135 71 2,894 4,029
Fayette 28 3,009 71 7,572 10,581
Freestone 28 2,032 72 5,201 7,233
Liberty 28 5,980 72 15,417 21,397
Madison 28 1,144 71 2,883 4,027
Shelby 28 2,546 72 6,629 9,175
Stonewall 28 206 71 524 730
Washington 28 4,031 71 10,173 14,204
Burnet 27 4,596 72 12,034 16,630
Cochran 27 284 72 758 1,042
Cottle 27 187 72 509 696
Delta 27 589 72 1,580 2,169
Hale 27 2,693 72 7,139 9,832
Henderson 27 7,890 72 20,810 28,700
Hopkins 27 3,528 72 9,297 12,825
Knox 27 366 72 986 1,352
Rockwall 27 8,468 73 23,243 31,711
Rusk 27 4,983 73 13,641 18,624
Taylor 27 12,658 72 34,265 46,923
Tyler 27 2,159 71 5,633 7,792
Wilbarger 27 1,196 73 3,279 4,475
Comal 26 12,365 73 35,203 47,568
Comanche 26 1,339 73 3,807 5,146
De Witt 26 1,715 74 4,888 6,603
Deaf Smith 26 1,246 73 3,456 4,702
Ector 26 9,118 74 26,190 35,308
Hall 26 324 74 930 1,254
Howard 26 2,539 73 7,020 9,559
Jackson 26 1,251 74 3,560 4,811
Johnson 26 12,903 73 36,683 49,586
Jones 26 1,525 73 4,197 5,722
Lamb 26 1,156 74 3,344 4,500
Mason 26 546 73 1,543 2,089
Orange 26 7,646 73 21,509 29,155
Upshur 26 2,106 73 5,871 7,977
Briscoe 25 205 74 616 821
Kerr 25 5,564 75 16,729 22,293
Lampasas 25 1,895 74 5,628 7,523
Live Oak 25 1,038 74 3,079 4,117
Palo Pinto 25 2,499 74 7,264 9,763
Panola 25 2,586 74 7,582 10,168
Rains 25 1,041 74 3,130 4,171
Schleicher 25 322 75 969 1,291
Ward 25 899 74 2,667 3,566
Austin 24 2,819 75 8,777 11,596
Bandera 24 2,248 75 6,934 9,182
Chambers 24 3,185 75 9,966 13,151
Concho 24 257 75 807 1,064
Dickens 24 234 75 730 964
Franklin 24 1,094 75 3,394 4,488
Hockley 24 1,794 76 5,789 7,583
McCulloch 24 728 75 2,263 2,991
McMullen 24 131 75 400 531
Mitchell 24 586 75 1,814 2,400
Sutton 24 381 75 1,189 1,570
Upton 24 288 75 898 1,186
Winkler 24 477 75 1,529 2,006
Bosque 23 1,796 75 5,760 7,556
Hamilton 23 862 76 2,875 3,737
Hardeman 23 373 75 1,199 1,572
Hood 23 5,078 77 17,269 22,347
La Vaca 23 1,867 77 6,286 8,153
Llano 23 2,250 76 7,279 9,529
Montgomery 23 36,530 76 119,542 156,072
Real 23 375 76 1,237 1,612
Somervell 23 798 76 2,675 3,473
Wood 23 3,996 77 13,638 17,634
Baylor 22 366 77 1,262 1,628
Childress 22 497 78 1,782 2,279
Crane 22 319 77 1,119 1,438
Erath 22 3,126 77 10,757 13,883
Kendall 22 3,591 78 12,960 16,551
Kent 22 99 77 342 441
Parker 22 10,429 77 36,646 47,075
Sabine 22 1,077 77 3,749 4,826
Van Zandt 22 4,503 77 15,727 20,230
Wise 22 4,469 78 15,967 20,436
Collingsworth 21 292 77 1,052 1,344
Garza 21 375 78 1,355 1,730
Gillespie 21 2,570 78 9,559 12,129
Midland 21 9,672 78 36,135 45,807
Moore 21 1,123 79 4,282 5,405
Clay 20 1,085 79 4,213 5,298
Cooke 20 3,051 79 11,871 14,922
Eastland 20 1,271 79 5,163 6,434
Irion 20 164 79 644 808
Leon 20 1,415 79 5,563 6,978
Montague 20 1,594 79 6,235 7,829
Reagan 20 197 80 795 992
San Saba 20 487 79 1,941 2,428
Scurry 20 1,088 80 4,414 5,502
Throckmorton 20 166 80 671 837
Brown 19 2,819 80 12,049 14,868
Callahan 19 1,063 80 4,589 5,652
Coke 19 297 80 1,252 1,549
Dallam 19 302 80 1,267 1,569
Hardin 19 3,935 80 16,589 20,524
Kimble 19 341 81 1,487 1,828
Parmer 19 719 80 2,969 3,688
Runnels 19 720 81 3,118 3,838
Martin 18 314 81 1,389 1,703
Mills 18 398 81 1,753 2,151
Randall 18 9,461 81 41,895 51,356
Stephens 18 626 81 2,869 3,495
Yoakum 18 450 81 1,989 2,439
Young 18 1,302 81 5,938 7,240
Andrews 17 790 83 3,815 4,605
Archer 17 739 82 3,591 4,330
Coleman 17 643 81 3,011 3,654
Donley 17 291 81 1,370 1,661
Gaines 16 650 83 3,385 4,035
Jack 16 470 84 2,527 2,997
Sterling 16 97 84 520 617
Hutchinson 15 1,321 84 7,358 8,679
Loving 15 12 85 67 79
Carson 14 406 86 2,547 2,953
Gray 14 1,153 85 6,920 8,073
Hemphill 14 216 86 1,342 1,558
Shackelford 14 208 85 1,284 1,492
Sherman 14 78 86 493 571
Wheeler 14 314 85 1,916 2,230
Armstrong 13 128 86 856 984
Hartley 13 250 86 1,711 1,961
Lipscomb 12 155 87 1,092 1,247
Borden 11 40 88 316 356
Hansford 11 239 88 1,847 2,086
Motley 11 67 88 522 589
Oldham 11 102 88 813 915
Glasscock 9 52 90 502 554
Ochiltree 8 243 92 2,851 3,094
Roberts 8 41 92 477 518
King 5 8 93 151 159
Total

3,521,164
4,467,748 7,988,912

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Early Voting Summary

By a Collin County Early Voting Alternate Judge (D)

Typically, turnout during the second week of early voting is heavier than in the first week of voting. The turnout pattern for 2008 did not exactly follow the 2004 turnout pattern voting. Week one of 2008 had a slightly higher percentage of daily turnout, so early voting was a bit more front loaded in 2008 as compared to the 2004 turnout pattern. (See daily turnout table below)

Collin County had an impressive 49.9% early voting turnout of the 424,500+ registered voters in 2008, according to figures given on the Texas Secretary of State's website.

In the November 2004 election 246,617 (66.8%) of the 369,412 register voters cast a ballot in that presidential election, with 150,001, or 40.6% of 2004 registered voters, voting early in that presidential election year.

Date
Of
Election
Total Reg.
Voters
Total
Votes
Cast
Total
Turnout
% of
Reg
Voters
Early
Votes
Cast
Early
Vote
% of
Reg
Voters
Nov-00 300,426 177,673 59.1% 75,244 25.0%
Nov-04 369,412 246,617 66.8% 150,001 40.6%
Mar-08 380,570 124,614 32.7% 59,033 15.5%
Nov-08 424,500 356,580 84.0% 211,637 49.9%

October
Early
Voting
2004
Daily Early Turnout
2008
Daily Early Turnout
Early
Vote
Day
Daily
Hours
of
Voting
Actual
Daily
Vote
Totals
Daily %
of Total
Early
Turnout
Daily
Early
Vote
Turnout
Daily %
of Total
Early
Vote
Mon 9 9,137 6.09% 13,900 6.50%
Tue 9 9,491 6.33% 15,356 7.30%
Wed 9 9,257 6.17% 15,563 7.40%
Thu 9 9,090 6.06% 14,734 7.01%
Fri 9 10,293 6.86% 17,305 8.23%
Sat 12 15,102 10.07% 19,043 9.06%
Sun 5 5,524 3.68% 8,188 3.89%
Mon 12 13,739 9.16% 18,126 8.62%
Tue 12 15,326 10.22% 19,227 9.14%
Wed 12 15,621 10.41% 21,780 10.36%
Thu 12 16,606 11.07% 23,074 10.97%
Fri 12 20,815 13.88% 25,341 11.97%
Total
150,001 100% 211,637 100%
Final Numbers for 2008 Early Voting

A new CBS News national poll of likely voters (that includes those who've already voted plus likely voters) released on November 1st finds that Obama/Biden leads McCain/Palin by 13 points, 54 percent to 41 percent.

That margin reflects an increase of two points in the Obama-Biden ticket's lead from a CBS News/New York Times poll released Thursday October 30th.

Nationally, about one in five voters say they have already cast their vote, either in person or through the mail, and these early voters prefer the Democratic ticket by an even greater margin.

Obama leads among early voters, who have already cast their ballot, 57 percent to 38 percent, a nineteen point advantage.

Matching the names of people who voted in the 2008 Democratic primary vs. the Republican primary and the newly registered voters with the names of people who voted early through October 30th, we find that the Collin County voting pattern likely follows the national voting sentiment captured in the CBS News Poll.
Democratic 53,263 27.5%
Republican 38,082 19.6%
New Reg. 102,613 52.9%

The last day of early voting, October 31st, was the biggest early voting day of all, but the official data is not yet available on the Texas Secretary of State's website or from the county elections office. The "New Reg" number in the above table includes all the voters newly registered since the March 4th primary election, therefore party affiliation can not be determined. The general assumption is that a sizable portion of the newly registered voters voted for Obama/Biden.

The early voting experience was challenging for voters and election workers alike this year. The voter registration software application package, that Collin County purchased from Votec Corp. earlier this year and used for the first time in this election to look up voters in the main registration database, malfunctioned from the start.

Newly registered voters who presented their brand new orange voter's registration cards to election clerks at check-in could not be found by the by the "VoteSafe" client part of the Votec application being used by election workers to qualify voters at the polling place. The Carpenter Park Recreation Center Early Voting Location Judge (R) and Alternate Judge (D) quickly understood implications of the software malfunction early on the first day of early voting.

As a work-around solution, the Carpenter Park Recreation Center Alternate Judge phoned the County Elections Office Voter Lookup Hot Line to manually qualify each voter that VoteSafe failed to automatically qualify.

The voter's name and registration certification number was then manually written on the combination signature form and also separately written on a "tally" list so the elections office could later mark the voter's record as "voted." Fortunately, these manually qualified Carpenter Park voters experienced only minor delay of a few minutes in the check-in process. By the close of early voting on October 31 several hundred names had been written on the Carpenter Park "tally" list as "manually" qualified voters.

Unfortunately, Judges and Alternate Judges at a few early voting locations did not immediately understand that the failed voter qualification lookups were due to software malfunction. These Judges incorrectly required otherwise qualified voters to go through the time consuming process of completing a "provisional ballot" form. Voters at other locations were turned away and told to return later.

By the middle of the first week of early voting Sharon Rowe, the Collin County Election Administrator, had instructed all the early voting Judges that voters should not be turned away or told to fill out provision ballots when a voter's registration could be verified by calling the Elections Office Voter Lookup Hot Line.

Few of the new voters who filled out their voter registration cards in late September and early October, who were added to the registration database during October, could be qualified by election clerks through the normal VoteSafe automated check-in process. Thousands of recently updated existing voter registration records and newly added voter registration records in the county's main elections database could not be accessed by the "VoteSafe" application client.

Also read Reports detail Collin County Early Voting problems at the Collin Co. observer.

Saturday, November 1, 2008

Second Week Of Early Voting

Updated November 1, 2008

Typically, turnout during the second week of early voting is heavier than in the first week of voting. The turnout pattern for 2008 did not exactly follow the 2004 turnout pattern voting. Week one of 2008 had a slightly higher percentage of daily turnout, so early voting was a bit more front loaded in 2008 as compared to the 2004 turnout pattern. (See daily turnout table below)

Collin County had an impressive 49.5% early voting turnout of the 424,000+ registered voters in 2008, according to figures given on the Texas Secretary of State's website.

In the November 2004 election 246,617 (66.8%) of the 369,412 register voters cast a ballot in that presidential election, with 150,001, or 40.6% of 2004 registered voters, voting early in that presidential election year.

Date
Of
Election
Total Reg.
Voters
Total
Votes
Cast
Total
Turnout
% of
Reg
Voters
Early
Votes
Cast
Early
Vote
% of
Reg
Voters
Nov-00 300,426 177,673 59.1% 75,244 25.0%
Nov-04 369,412 246,617 66.8% 150,001 40.6%
Mar-08 380,570 124,614 32.7% 59,033 15.5%
Nov-08 424,500 356,580 84.0% 210,128 49.5%

Sharon Rowe, the Collin County Elections Administrator, has told election workers it is possible that 356,580 (84%) of the 424,000+ registered voters could turnout to vote in the 2008 election. If Rowe's prediction is accurate, it is possible that approximately 146,453 people across Collin County remain poised to vote in their locally polling locations on November 4th. As a rough rule of thumb, each of the 129 Collin County polling locations could see as many as approximately 1,100 to 1,200 voters on Election Day.


2004 Nov.
Election Daily
Early Turnout
2008 Nov.
Election Daily
Early Turnout
Early
Vote Day
Daily
Hours
of
Voting
Actual
Daily
Vote
Totals
Daily %
of Total
Early
Turnout
Daily
Early
Vote
Turnout
Daily %
of Total
Early
Vote
Mon 9 9,137 6.09% 13,900 6.5%
Tue 9 9,491 6.33% 15,356 7.30%
Wed 9 9,257 6.17% 15,563 7.40%
Thu 9 9,090 6.06% 14,734 7.01%
Fri 9 10,293 6.86% 17,305 8.23%
Sat 12 15,102 10.07% 19,043 9.06%
Sun 5 5,524 3.68% 8,188 3.89%
Mon 12 13,739 9.16% 18,126 8.62%
Tue 12 15,326 10.22% 19,227 9.14%
Wed 12 15,621 10.41% 21,780 10.36%
Thu 12 16,606 11.07% 23,074 10.97%
Fri 12 20,815 13.88% 24,000* 11.41%*
Total
150,001 100% 210,296* 100%
* - Estimated

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Early Voting Experience Challenging For New Voters And Election Workers Alike

The early voting experience has been challenging for voters and early voting election workers alike this year. In a Dallas Morning News report headlined, "Early voters report obstacles at polls," the newspaper says, "At another Collin County station, voters whose names were not listed in the state's new electronic voter database – even some with registration cards – were turned away and told to come back later."

Actually, none of the voters who turned in a new voter registration registration application or change of information form after some point in mid September can not be found by Collin County's new ePollBook system being used by elections clerks to qualify voters when they show up to vote.

This is what went wrong and why election clerks have been calling the election office voter look up hot line so often to manually qualify and check in so many properly registered voters.

The new VoteSafe ePollBook election software package that Collin County recently purchased from the San Diego based election management application software vendor Votec, and is using for the first time in this election to look up voters, works much differently from the old election software the county has used to qualify and check-in voters for several prior years.

The old election software application could access the most current registration data, but the new VoteSafe application can only access an old copy of the registration data created some weeks before the start of early voting.

This year many thousands of new voter registration applications postmarked from September through the October 4th registration cutoff date had yet to be processed when the registrar's master voter registration database was copied to load onto the VoteSafe ePollBook check-in laptops. Election clerks are using those laptops, loaded with the newly purchased VoteSafe election software and old registration data, to check-in voters for the November 4, 2008 election early voting period.

Almost all of the voter registration applications postmarked from September through the October 4th had actually been processed and entered into the registrar's master voter registration database by the first day of early voting. However, election clerks using the new VoteSafe ePollBook software application to check-in voters can see only an old copy of registration information that, by the start of early voting, was already several weeks old.
So, early voting election clerks can not use the check-in computers to directly qualify, perhaps, up to 20,000 newly registered voters.
For these newly minted voters the election the Judge, Alternate Judge or designated "special help" clerk must call the "County Elections Office Voter Look Up Phone Hot Line." Voter ID information is verbally repeated to hot line help clerks who then access the master voter registration database to verbally qualify each of the new voters. The voter's name, registration certification number and other information must then be manually written on the election combination signature form and also again separately written on a "tally" list by the Judge, Alternate Judge or designated clerk so the elections office can later mark the voter's master record as "voted." During the ten days of early voting so far, many thousands of new voters across Collin County have been "manually" qualified to vote using this procedure.

At least one Election Judge and Alternate Judge team in charge of the Carpenter Park Recreation Center Early Voting Location immediately realized the "voter not found" problem was due to ePollBook software issues and started calling the Collin County election office voter look up hot line to manually qualify voters from the first hour of early voting.

Unfortunately, Judges and Alternate Judges at most other early voting locations incorrectly told voters presenting a newly issued orange voter registration card, which VoteSafe could not qualify, that they could not vote or that they must go through the time consuming process of completing a "provisional ballot."
These Election Judges had no idea that the newly purchased VoteSafe check in software functioned far differently from the software they had used for several years to qualify and check in voters. Election Judges expected to find a current voter registration record via VoteSafe for anyone presenting a registration card, even for any just issued cards, because that is the way the process had always worked in the past.
When VoteSafe returned "Not Found" on people presenting new registration cards with, what most Judges likely thought were, usually high registration serial numbers during the first days of early voting, some Judges possibly considered that some kind of voter fraud was being perpetrated -- After all, conservative talk radio commentators have been warning for weeks that Democrats, aided by ACORN, are plotting to steal the 2008 election and that liberal voter fraud is rampant. The lion's share of newly registered voters are likely planning to vote for Democratic candidates.
Still, it is difficult to fault Election Judges for initially being suspicious of these "not found" registration records, even for people presenting a valid registration card, because they were never told about the radical change in software function and election procedure with the adoption of the VoteSafe application.
By the middle of the first week of early voting Sharon Rowe, the Collin County Election Administrator, had instructed all the early voting Judges that voters should not be turned away or told to fill out provisional ballots when a new voter's registration can be verified by calling the Elections Office Voter Look Up Hot Line.

How does this new VoteSafe election software application work?

As the picture shows there are two main component assembles of the "VoteSafe" ePollBook application system. One component assembly of this distributed ePollBook application system is installed on laptop computers used at the polling locations to look up and qualify voters during voter check-in.

The Votesafe configuration on each of these voter check-in laptops includes a copy of the master voter registration database that, by the start of early voting, was signifigantly out of date.

The Votesafe software running on each voter check-in laptop uses its own local copy of the voter registration database to look up and qualify voters to receive a ballot.

Part of the look up information returned to the election clerk, for each qualified voter, is the particular "ballot style" that each voter must be given to vote. (Collin County has 52 unique ballot styles for this election.) Each voter qualified by the clerk to receive a ballot is then marked as 'Has Voted' in the local registration file copy installed on the check-in laptop used by that particular clerk. The laptop prints a label containing the voter's registration serial number and other information. The clerk affixes the label to the combination signature, which the voter then signs. After this check-in procedure is complete the voter is given a ballot card and allowed to mark the ballot.

The other part of the distributed VoteSafe application system runs on the county's election office elections server. This part of the VoteSafe application periodically connects, via a secure Internet connection, with each voter check-in laptop used at each early voting polling location to upload the names of people who are marked as 'Has Voted' in the laptop's registration data file.

New voter registration records added and old records that are updated in the registrar's master voter registration database after it was copied, to be installed on each of the check-in laptops, does not synchronize down to the local check-in laptops laptop computers.
According to data posted on the Texas Secretary of State and Collin County Elections Office websites approximately 20,000 new voters registered to vote in Collin County between March 2008 and September 2, 2008 boosting the total number of registered voters to 403,465. Voter registration drives continued across the county until the October 6th registration cutoff date and a small mountain voter applications postmarked up to October 6th date continued to flow into the county registrar's office every day for several days after the cutoff date. The Collin County master voter registration database contained approximately 408,000 registered voters by Oct 1, 2008, with a five or six day backlog of registration applications still waiting to be processed. The final tally of registered voters will be in the neighborhood of 424, 000 people.
We can, then, conclude that approximately 20,000 new voter registration records have been added to the registrar's master registration data base since the data was copied to be loaded into each of the local Votesafe ePollBook check-in laptops. It is these newly added and update voter records that are not directly available to election clerks through the Votesafe ePollBook system. Election clerks must qualify these voters by calling the Elections Office Voter Look Up Hot Line and then hand write their information on the signature combination form. This results in additional delays for voters who must wait in a special 'Hot Line' lookup voter line after first waiting in the regular check-in line.