Statement Regarding 2021 CCISD Board Election Records

Election records related to the May 2021 CCISD Board Election have been released in accordance with Texas law, despite an allegation to the contrary.  

A former candidate for a CCISD Board of Trustee position has filed numerous requests for documents related to the May 2021 election. The Clear Creek Independent School District has responded to each request in a timely manner, releasing upwards of 1,000 documents to the requester. 

The former candidate filed a complaint with the Texas Attorney General, alleging the school district refused to release certain records. On January 3, 2022, the Texas Attorney General dismissed the complaint stating, “We understand the district has made a good faith effort to provide information that is responsive to the request. Accordingly, our file on the matter will remain closed.” 

There are election records which cannot be released under Texas Election Code 66.058 for a period of 22 months. The former candidate has requested the cast ballot information from the internal memory of voting machines. These cast ballot images, according to Texas Election Code 66.058, must remain confidential for 22 months. It would be an offense to release voted ballots in advance of the 22-month period. The law states, “A custodian of a ballot box or secure container containing voted ballots commits an offense if, during the preservation period ... the custodian: (1) makes an unauthorized entry into the box or container; or (2) fails to prevent another person from handling the box or container in an unauthorized manner or from making an unauthorized entry into the box or container.” Violation of this law is a Class A misdemeanor. 

The Clear Creek Independent School District does not object to publicly releasing the cast ballot records when the 22-month preservation period expires.  

Additionally, the former candidate has requested vote tallies from the internal memory of the eSlate machines (“eSlates”) and from the internal memory of the Judges Booth Controllers (“JBCs”). These vote tallies do not exist, and never existed, and therefore there are no documents to release. The former candidate has received the vote tallies (“tally tapes”) that were printed from the JBCs on election night after polls closed. Per HART InterCivic, the manufacturer of the election machines, vote tallies are not saved or otherwise backed up by the internal memories of either the eSlates or the JBCs.  The following records have been released to the former candidate.  

• Audit logs for the voting machines used in early voting and on election day 
• Copies of tally tapes printed out from all early voting and voting day locations of Parr Elementary and Ross Elementary 
• Final voter rosters for both early voting and election day
• All records from the recount 
• Complete list of voters who requested ballots by mail, broken down by precinct

View Election Records