The program, created during the last legislative session, allows soldiers to receive mail-in ballots by e-mail. The way it works is a soldier prints off the ballot, fills it out and sends it back like a regular mail-in ballot.
“It’s hard to argue that they’re not the most important people to vote,” said Randall Dillard, spokesman for the Texas secretary of state’s office. “They’re the ones defending the process.”
Dillard said part of the reason the program was created is because overseas e-mail is quicker and more dependable than regular mail service.
Bell County has a ballot mailing list of about 10,000 soldiers, dependants and spouses. With such a large number of overseas soldier voters, Bell County elected to observe the process elsewhere before making it available here.
“We just thought we ought not to be the pilot project, as big as we are,” said County Judge Jon Burrows.
One of the challenges the pilot program presented the county was there was no way to differentiate on the mail-in list a soldier from a dependent or spouse.
“The state never asked that question before,” said Jana Henderson, Bell County election coordinator. “How do they expect us to know?”
County Clerk Shelley Coston said her office would monitor how the program works in El Paso, where Fort Bliss is located, and other locations before deciding whether to use it in the future.
“It’s not like we don’t want to or won’t ever participate,” Ms. Coston said. “I’d rather see that it works first.”
