Editor's note: This story has been updated to include comment from Michelle Evans, Williamson County Republican Party chair.
A total of 69 Republican ballots cast on primary election day March 3, but misplaced and not initially counted, will be tabulated and included in the final canvassed results following a March 12 court order.
What happened
While processing post-election paperwork March 11, the Williamson County Election Department discovered presiding judges at two Republican polling locations misplaced a total of 69 ballots cast on election day, a county spokesperson confirmed in an email.
The ballots, 40 from the Andice Community Center in Florence and 29 from the Cedar Park Randalls, were put in a box of election-related paperwork instead of the ballot box, resulting in them not being counted.
The county notified Michelle Evans, the Williamson County Republican Party chair, and the Texas Secretary of State's office, the spokesperson said.
This led to the Republican Party petitioning a Williamson County district judge to reopen the central counting station in order to tabulate these ballots.
The outcome
Judge Betsy Lambeth granted the motion allowing the Republican Party's central counting station to reopen and count the ballots.
Her order reads this action was done to "ensure no voter's validly-cast ballot remains uncounted."
The order further states that the votes will be tabulated and results will be provided to Evans prior to the party canvasing ballots at 3 p.m. March 12.
In a statement to Community Impact, Evans said the reconciliation process caught the error and allowed the party to take immediate action so that the votes could be counted.
The background
The need to reopen the counting process follows a series of election day voting changes.
This year, the Williamson County Republican Party opted for precinct-specific polling locations on election day, requiring the Democratic Party to follow suit.
Additionally, the Republican party used preprinted, sequentially numbers paper ballots on election night. Voters marked their ballot by hand before they were placed into a ballot box.
Ballots boxes were then transported to the elections office for scanning, according the previous Community Impact reporting.
In case you missed it
On election night, Lambeth granted an extension keeping two Georgetown polling locations open until 10 p.m. after the Texas Civil Rights Project filed a lawsuit against the local party chairs, citing long lines at the polling places.
This order was suspended by the Texas Supreme Court just after 10 p.m., and the provisional ballots cast by the 150-200 voters who joined the line after 7 p.m. at these locations were not counted.
This story will be updated as additional information becomes available.
