In Guadalupe County, an elections academy aims to strengthen residents’ trust in voting

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Leonard and Marylou Jones know elections well. They have been poll workers for the past three years in Guadalupe County, and Marylou recently took on a part-time role at the county elections office.

But they had never seen one part of the process up close: how exactly the votes were counted and what steps were taken to ensure accuracy.

Last week, they got a firsthand look.

“I see that it is verified and reverified,” Leonard Jones said, adding that he’s aware that what he and his wife see on election day as poll workers isn’t the full extent of the process. “It’s quite intense.”

The couple was among a small group of Guadalupe County residents who participated in the county’s fourth Citizens Elections Academy. Over two evenings, participants got a hands-on introduction to every step of the local election process — from voter registration and roll maintenance to election security and vote tabulation.

The program is the brainchild of Lisa Hayes, the county’s elections administrator, who modeled the idea after a similar initiative by local law enforcement. Across the state, counties and cities offer local government citizens’ academies and local law enforcement agencies run police department academies, but Guadalupe County’s academy — launched in the fall of 2023 — is the first to focus solely on elections.

The goal, Hayes said, is to increase confidence and trust in the election process. It’s part of a broader effort by Texas election officials to address rampant spread of misinformation following the November 2020 election. Across the state, election officials have hosted open houses, workshops, and additional public testing of voting equipment beyond what’s required by law to try to regain voters’ trust.

In Guadalupe County — a solidly red, mostly rural area east of San Antonio — more than 20 people, including elected officials, county workers, candidates, election workers, and residents who have been skeptical of the election process, have attended the class.

And so far, Hayes says the program is working.

“I have seen people’s attitudes change after completing it,” Hayes said. “We’ve had people who would come in the first night hostile and wanting to push back to what we were sharing. But at the end of it, they were a lot more receptive and wanting to know more.”

Now other cities and counties — including the city of La Porte in Harris County — have followed her lead, creating their own citizens’ elections academies. Additional jurisdictions, including Collin County, are planning to do so in the future. The program has also been recognized by the Texas Association of Counties and from the International Association of Government Officials.

A closer look at the process

The academy walks participants through each step of the election process: how a voter registers to vote, how the elections department processes applications, and the state law governing both. Attendees tested voting equipment for accuracy and security and followed step-by-step instructions to open and close the polls on Election Day.

Hayes also explains the dozens of state-mandated deadlines election officials have to meet, including for testing and programming voting equipment, designing ballots, mailing absentee ballots, training poll workers, and posting public notices. Participants also learn how staff members use geographic information to make sure each voter receives the correct ballot style based on district boundaries.

Hayes also covers the rules for mail-in ballots, the steps voters must take to return them, and the specific steps elections officials take to process them. That part of the program was of particular interest to Virginia Rotge, a former election clerk who had previously observed the early voting ballot board at work.

That board — a bipartisan group responsible for reviewing mail-in ballots before they’re counted — plays a crucial role in election security. At the academy last week, Rotge got to step into their shoes, helping process mail-in ballots herself.

She reviewed the carrier envelope to ensure that signatures and identification numbers matched, while also looking for any errors a voter may need to correct. Using a letter opener to carefully access the ballot inside, she and other participants ensured that there were no illegible marks or unclear marks that would require a committee to determine the voter’s intent.

The staff also showed the steps the office takes to ensure ballot secrecy is kept — separating envelopes with identifiable information from the voted ballots.

“It’s a good system,” Rotge said. A team of two people from each political party have to agree to accept the ballot to be counted or send the voter a notice to make corrections. “[The ballot board has] to take the time to carefully go over everything. And I think it’s good that it’s done by a team,” she said.

Election officials in the city of La Porte told Votebeat they were inspired by Hayes’ idea to host their own academy. Although some cities may contract with their county elections department to conduct their elections, La Porte officials run their own city and school district elections.

The city’s first Citizens Elections Academy, which followed Guadalupe County’s topics, was held in February and a dozen people completed the course, said Lee Woodward, the La Porte City secretary.

Woodward said residents were surprised to learn the dozens of state law-required deadlines that election officials have to meet year-round and between elections, highlighting a wide misconception that election officials are done working after election day.

“When people understand what election workers do in the process, especially one that is as important and as frequently misunderstood as elections, they feel better about it, there’s more confidence in it, and then they go share that with other people in the community,” Woodward said.

Want to learn more? 

Guadalupe County elections administrator Lisa Hayes said that because each county and local jurisdictions’ processes may vary, the Guadalupe County Citizens Elections Academy is only offered to the county’s registered voters. You can learn more about the program here.

If your county does not offer a similar academy, you can learn more about your local elections by contacting your local election official. You can find a list by county here.

Natalia Contreras covers election administration and voting access for Votebeat in partnership with the Texas Tribune. She is based in Corpus Christi. Contact Natalia at ncontreras@votebeat.org.

Disclosure: City of La Porte and Texas Association of Counties have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

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