Texas Republicans in some counties are pushing to count ballots by hand in next year's primary [View all]

Republicans in at least a half-dozen counties in Texas are considering or have made plans to count ballots by hand in next March's primary elections, a move that's financially costly and could inject uncertainty into key contests.

Texas Republicans who are pushing for the shift argue that voting machines that normally handle the process are unreliable, a position President Donald Trump and his allies have been pushing for years, despite a lack of evidence. But voting experts and Democrats warn that hand-counting could result in errors, delays in final results and post-election litigation.

Texas tasks political parties, rather than local governments, with running Election Day voting in primaries, giving partisan officials unusual say over election administration. Democrats and Republicans in the state often administer elections jointly, outsourcing the job to the county election officials, and their expenses are reimbursed by the secretary of state.

But this time around, Republicans in some Texas counties want to run their elections on their own, planning to conduct them at the precinct level so they can hand-count ballots on Election Day.

According to interviews with party leaders and activists in Texas, Republicans in Dallas, Hays, Eastland and Gillespie counties have approved plans to hand-count ballots in next year’s primary. Orange County Republicans also approved plans over the summer to hand-count Election Day ballots, according to local media. And at least one other county, Denton, is considering a similar measure.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/texas-republicans-counties-are-pushing-count-ballots-hand-years-primar-rcna239342