Listen
This is a big week at Reliant Stadium as the cross state rival Dallas Cowboys come to town. But what took place in the parking lot Monday morning was even more important for the people of Houston. Large trucks full of voting equipment began pulling up to Reliant Arena.
Harris County Clerk Beverly Kaufman was happy to see the trucks come in.
“Fort Bend County was the very first county to call us and offer the loan of equipment after the fire. They’re the first to be here to deliver equipment today . We’ve just unloaded three truckloads of equipment from our neighboring county and in a few short minutes three more trucks from Tarrant County are going to be rolling in and we’ll be unloading an equal amount of equipment from up there.”
As you know, most of Harris County’s voting machines were destroyed in a fire last month — about ten thousand of them. Kaufman says since this is not a presidential election, turnout will be much lower and so she doesn’t need to replace all the machines at once.
More counties will be loaning their extra equipment and the county will also purchase some to make up the difference. Kaufman stands by her initial statement that everything will be fine and the election will go on as normal.
“Your voting experience will be normal for you, whether you vote early or whether you vote on Election Day. You’re going to have a normal voting experience; you shouldn’t have any concerns about voting on Election Day other than making up your mind who you’re going to vote for.”
Kaufman says for a number of reasons, this election is going to cost a little more — about four million dollars. A normal election would cost about 2 and a half million.