Today, the Texas House Elections Committee held a hearing in Austin to discuss interim charges.

Issued by lame-duck Speaker of the House, Dennis Bonnen, to his similarly situated committee chairs, this hearing and subsequent hearings are likely to be little more than going through the motions.

Interim charges issued by Bonnen followed his announcement that he would not seek reelection, following him and his consultants butt fumbling of public relations after the release of a recording of the Speaker making derogatory comments about fellow members and offering a quid pro quo to conservative leader Michael Quinn Sullivan.

The committee took invited testimony from Keith Ingram, Secretary of State Director of Elections, and Chris Davis, representing the Texas Association of Elections Administrators. The hearing, when boiled down, amounted to oversight of legislation passed during the 2019 legislative session.

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Today, ballots discovered in a box that went uncounted during a recount of MISD’s November bond were counted and the election was shown to have failed.

The margin of defeat was the original margin of 25, plus one bringing the total to 26. That extra vote could be that of a stray ballot discovered in a voting machine after the election recount was certified by the MISD board.

This outcome was predictable which is good, but it’s also bad.

Good, because it validated the position of many, that new voting systems which rely on both electronic and paper ballots help ensure accurate recounts. Now, to have an accurate recount all of the ballots are necessary but barring missing ballot boxes and with a rock solid chain of custody, recounts are possible and predictable with paper ballot backups.

Bad, because we have an election that was certified when it should not have been at the direction of the Secretary of State’s office. Advice from the SoS to certify the election, is based on the interpretation of code by SoS staff and is not mandated, despite breathless claims to the contrary by MISD officials and their allies.

The validation of the faulty election could have resulted in an unconstitutional result standing had it not been for the work of Better Bond for Midland and Direct Action Texas to understand and challenge the results.

Originally, intervenors from Better Bond for Midland were seeking the election be voided but, following the count today, an agreed order nullifying the election will be submitted.

A Midland judge is expected to reverse the election result early next week.