Doug Rosart, who presided over the most recent Hunt County election, told the Commissioners Court on Nov. 17 that recent state law changes and rising voter volume significantly increased the county’s post-election workload and will require new equipment and facility planning.

Rosart praised elections staff for handling last-minute state directives and said long lines during early voting showed the county is outgrowing its current facility. “We had 6 hours straight where they were lined up outside the door,” Rosart said, and on the 12-hour day the site handled “almost a thousand” voters. He said the county should consider another location such as the Fletcher Warren Center within a year.

Why it matters: Rosart said a legislative change he identified in the record as Senate Bill 827 revised the election code by replacing the term “precinct” with “location,” which forced Hunt County to perform post-election hand counts of all early-vote ballots at a single site rather than at multiple precincts. He estimated that change added roughly 25 extra person-hours per worker for the post-election hand count during this election and cost “thousands” in added labor; he predicted the workload could grow four to five times for upcoming larger elections.

Rosart urged the commissioners to budget for additional electronic voting machines and printers if the county moves to countywide polling places, explaining that on-demand printing at each location avoids the need to preprint every ballot style. “If we force people to try and do electronic voting, then you could just print out just like we do early voting,” he said.

Rosart also warned that, based on population estimates cited in his remarks, Hunt County will cross the statutory threshold that requires central-count surveillance cameras and live streaming by the 2030 census and recommended the court budget for that equipment now.

Elections staff confirmed turnout and audit figures during the meeting. Rosart reported roughly 11,781 total votes (he said this was about a 15.8% turnout of ~74,000 registered voters) and described a sizable hand-count effort: a hand verification sample that required dozens of person-hours and, in his account, produced a 100% match with electronic tallies in this election.

What comes next: Commissioners asked staff to return with cost estimates and equipment options; Judge Stovall and other members indicated they expect staff to present fiscal implications at a subsequent meeting. Rosart said he has notified county administration by email so the expense can be considered.