Protecting the vote: Elections administrator details how voter fraud is averted

The midterm election has stirred up plenty of excitement as record numbers of voters are showing up to the polls across the state and nation, as well as in El Paso.

But there’s also been a lot of fear about voter fraud and hacking.

With nearly 458,000 El Pasoans registered to vote, ABC-7 sat down with the county elections administrator to find out how the office tracks voter information and keeps it safe.

“I have seen very little, very little voter fraud in both states that I have worked elections in,” said Lisa Wise. Wise worked as the election commissioner in Douglas County, Nebraska, for eight years before coming to El Paso.

Seemingly backing up Wise’s claim regarding voter fraud is information from the Texas Attorney General’s website, announcing one conviction of election fraud this year, which occurred in September.

While there have been several other announcements on the website of voter fraud prosecutions since Ken Paxton took office in 2015, that was the only conviction mentioned in a news release over the last three years.

John F. Bash, the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas, which includes El Paso, just announced on Thursday that he has assigned an assistant U.S. Attorney to oversee the district’s handling of complaints of election fraud and voting rights abuses in consultation with the U.S. Justice Department.

“Every citizen must be able to vote without interference or discrimination and the election process must be free from fraud and manipulation,” Bash said in a news release sent to ABC-7. “The Department of Justice will act promptly and aggressively to protect the integrity of the election process.”

Wise told ABC-7 that the county works to minimize and eliminate voting fraud in all forms — from voter impersonation to hacking.

“The best that we can do here in El Paso and in the state is to make sure we’re following our policies as tightly as we can,” said Wise, adding that her staff is continually cleaning voter rolls.

“I use the term ‘clean’ instead of ‘purge’ because ‘purge’ can make people uncomfortable,” Wise said. “We’re very specific on that process. And the law is very specific. It’s not just, ‘Hey, this person hasn’t showed up at that polls for awhile. Let’s just assume they’re gone.'”

Here’s how people are removed from the voter rolls: death, with death certificates cross-checked monthly; Mental incapacity or felony convictions, with those court records sent to the elections office; A registered voter cancels their registration.

“Now, obviously, you can only be registered in one place. So that still falls on the voter to not cast their ballot in two states,” Wise said.

The office is notified if a resident has registered in another state, but how quickly that happens depends on how often the other state decides to share its data.

For instance, a manager at ABC-7 said his daughter has lived out of state for years and is registered to vote at her new address, yet he still receives her voter card in his mailbox.

Wise said instances like that require residents to drop it into the mailbox with a note that the recipient no longer lives there.

“It is not a ‘forwardable’ piece of mail,” Wise said. “Even if they’ve had their mail forwarded to them it won’t go to them because that information won’t be accurate at their new address.”

The state of Texas requires voters to bring one of seven forms of photo identification to the polls, which can be a driver’s license, an election ID certificate, or a personal ID card. Other forms include a handgun license, a citizenship certificate with a photo, a military ID, or a passport.

The state also accepts other forms of identification with a filled out Reasonable Impediment Declaration.

Wise said she has not seen an instance of someone using a fake ID at the polls in the four years she has held her position. She expressed her concern that allegations made by people in positions of power of rampant voter fraud may undermine her efforts.

“My fear is that these accusations are generally based on no facts,” Wise said. “I don’t think that you’re doing the public a service by doing that.

“People are now making decisions, being fearful based on something that I don’t believe exists.”

As for external threats — Wise said her office participates in the numerous free trainings offered by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

“There is somebody who does a mock attack where they come in and say, ‘Here are where your vulnerable spots are,'” she said, pointing out there there is still no proof of a local voting infrastructure being hacked, adding, “Anything that would affect an election obviously would be a concern. And we want to run it as transparent and effective as possible.”

Wise said the county should be adding a new layer of accountability with new voting machines in May of 2019 at a cost of $6 to $8 million.

The state hasn’t disclosed how much of that amount it will pay.

Texas received $24 million from the federal government as part of the 2018 Help America Vote Act, which helps states pay for updated election infrastructure. It’s far less than the state received when Congress passed the first HAVA in 2002, said Wise, but she added that the county has been setting aside money in the budget for the last two years to pay for new voting machines and software.

“You can still use the touchscreen to populate your ballot, but it prints out a paper ballot with your options on there so you can review it,” Wise said. “It’s the best of both worlds. … You want to have as much back-up information as you can.”

Wise said that once the machines are purchased, voters will be invited to try out the new system ahead of the next election.

“I think people will find it easy and make sure they feel assured by paper ballots,” Wise said. “We want to make sure voters feel confident when they go to the polls.”