Collin County voters will use hand-marked paper ballots in November, mostly replacing digital ballot-marking machines.
COLLIN COUNTY, Texas — Voters heading to the polls in Collin County this election season in November will notice a return to the past: hand-marked paper ballots.
“We call it ballot-on-demand,” said Kaleb Breaux, Elections Administrator for Collin County.
For the first time since the early 2000s, voters will manually fill in ovals on full-sized paper ballots, replacing the widespread use of digital ballot-marking machines. While digital ballot marking options are still available, they must now be specifically requested. Also new are the devices used to check in voters.
The shift was influenced in part by voter feedback and action from the County Commissioners Court. County Judge Chris Hill attempted several times to push forward hand-marked paper ballots. The Court finally approved it in June.
It is important to note that no voting irregularities have been found in Collin County elections in recent memory.
“The court, after hearing from a number of voters over a period of time, I think they feel like [paper ballot marking] is a more transparent act,” Breaux said.
He added that while the decision aligns with former President Trump’s executive orders on election integrity, local officials have emphasized transparency and reliability as the driving factors.
Friday marked the state-mandated Public Test Day, where members of the public, political parties, ballot board and city officials observed the system being tested—from check-in to tabulation.
“We want to make sure the voter completely fills in the oval so the [ballot scanner] can register the vote,” Breaux said.
Ballots were intentionally marked with overvotes, undervotes, and faint ovals to test the scanner’s accuracy.
“You’re wanting to make sure it’s catching all of those things,” Breaux explained.
The tabulator flagged each irregularity as expected, with alerts for unreadable or conflicting marks according to Breaux.
Despite the changes, Breaux says the updated process is not necessarily more secure—it’s just another reliable option.
“I don’t think it’s any more or any less safe than what we were doing. I think that we still offer ballots to voters that are tabulated properly, efficiently, and in a transparent manner.”
Collin County has reported no recent voting irregularities, including during Friday’s testing. If you receive a “thank you for voting” message on the tabulator screen after submitting your ballot, your vote has been successfully counted.
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