County Clerk
Glossary
XI. Glossary
ADA
The Americans with Disabilities Act; one of the primary laws governing access for the physically disabled.
Central Counting Station (CCS)
Travis County's current ballot counting system revolves around twelve AIS Optical Scan tabulators located at a central site. Counting begins after the polls have closed on election day. All election judges bring their ballot boxes to either CCS or to one of the receiving substations. Once the ballots arrive at CCS, they are individually hand audited to ensure that the tabulators will correctly read each voter's intentions.
Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) Voting System
A paperless voting system which allows the voter-through a touch-screen or other electronic mechanism-to cast a vote which is immediately recorded onto electronic media. The DRE systems allow direct modem transfer of vote tabulations from the precinct to the central computer for accumulation and report printing. DREs also represent the only systems meeting voting requirements for individuals with visual impairments or physical disabilities.
E-Day - Election Day
Election Administrator/County Clerk
In Texas, elections have historically been conducted by the county clerk, with the tax assessor-collector managing voter registration. However, in some Texas counties, the commissioners court has moved election and voter registration duties away from elected officials and combined them into one, appointed position, the elections administrator. In these counties, the elections administrator answers directly to the commissioners court. In counties like Travis, the county clerk is the final authority in all aspects of election administration except voter registration.
EVBM - Early Vote By Mail
EVIP - Early Vote in Person
Precinct Ballot Counters (PBC)
Votes are counted electronically at the precinct. When a voter completes the optical scan ballot, he/she feeds the ballot into the PBC. If the PBC detects an overvote (a vote for more than one candidate in a particular race) or it reads a blank ballot-usually caused by using unreadable ink-it will display a message asking the voter to clarify his/her intentions. This allows the voter to conduct the "intent of the voter audit" before the ballot is counted.
Because the PBC counts the ballots as they are submitted, at the end of the day, the election judge need only complete the paperwork and modem the precinct's results directly from the precinct or substation to a central computer for accumulation and report printing.
Receiving Substations (RSS)
To reduce the hardship on election judges whose precincts are not centrally located and to strive for a more efficient central counting station, the county clerk's office established substations throughout the county where judges could bring their ballots. In turn, at intervals throughout the evening, sheriff's deputies take several ballot boxes at a time to the central counting station to be counted.
SOS
Secretary of State's Office; the state agency which oversees election activities in Texas.
Texas Election Code (TEC)
The state law governing the conduct and implementation of elections by Texas counties.
