Collin County

be made available to the public during the regular business hours of the record’s custodian.518

While each county must comply with record preservation requirements, counties are given considerable leeway in prescribing procedures for the logistical operation of recordkeeping and maintenance. The Secretary of State Elections Division has promulgated best practices for records management and maintenance and provides training on this topic at its Election Law seminars.519

The four counties under this audit have each adopted their own methods for records management with varying degrees of specificity. In some counties, procedural compliance with the records management system in place was inconsistent and it proved difficult in many cases to locate the records sought by the audit teams. Many election records are produced at the polling location and are returned to the Elections Administrations after either early voting or election day. The counties depend on their workers to fill out forms correctly, print tapes, and return all records, often resulting in an inconsistent execution of processes depending on the individual(s) involved. Poll workers, in all counties, must strive to be more diligent in collecting their records and returning them to the Elections Administration. Likewise, Elections Administrators must adopt – and follow – best practices to ensure poll workers and staff are complying with their statutory obligations to maintain election records in a transparent format. These recommended steps would enhance every Texas county’s ability to promptly produce election records to address any outstanding questions or concerns regarding the security and integrity of a given election.

Collin County digitized virtually every available record from the 2020 General Election and was, therefore, able to provide records to FAD promptly. Collin County has noted that the audit process has already improved their records organization. For example, Collin County did not organize or segment ballots in a particular manner when storing them after the 2020 General Election but they have since adopted procedures to better organize ballots so they can more easily be retrieved following an election.

518 Tex. Elec. Code § 1.012; see also id. at (b) (“For the purpose of safeguarding the election records or economizing the custodian’s time, the custodian may adopt reasonable rules limiting public access.”). 519 Chain of Custody Best Practices, Texas Secretary of State Annual Election Law Seminar (August 2022), https://www.sos.state.tx.us/elections/forms/chain-of-custody-best-practices-ab-august2022%20(1).pdf#search =records%20management.