Continued growth in Montgomery County has led to the creation of two new voting precincts and boundary changes for 25 precincts for the November elections.
During a regular meeting Tuesday, commissioners agreed to change the boundaries for voting precincts 13 and 28 to create the new voting precinct of 112.
The court agreed to divide Precinct 39 to create new voting precinct 113. Both new voting precincts are in Precinct 2.
State election laws prohibit voting precincts from having more than 5,000 voters. There are 412,519 registered voters in Montgomery County.
Residents have until Oct. 10 to register to vote in the Nov. 7 general election. Early voting begins Oct. 23.
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County Judge Mark Keough said the county does have enough voting equipment for the changes in the precincts.
In October 2021, the court approved the $8.1 million purchase of almost 2,000 new voting machines to replace the county’s antiquated machines purchased in 2005.
Jason Millsaps, chief of staff for Keough, said the Verity Voting 2.5 by Hart Intercivic Inc. is the approved voting machine by the Texas Secretary of the State’s Office and Texas Attorney General’s Office.
The new machines are not connected to the internet via a WiFi signal or ethernet cable making it impossible to tamper with them, Millsaps said.
Elections Administrator Suzie Harvey said the county began using the new machines, which are paper-based, in 2022. Voters enter their selections via a touch screen and then when finished print the ballot. The voter then scans the ballot to be tabulated.
For more information on elections, visit www.elections.mctx.org.
