Harris County Switches to Paper-Trail Voting with Hart InterCivic

Largest Jurisdiction in Texas Stands by Longtime Election Partner

HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Harris County Commissioners voted unanimously this week to upgrade their election system to paper-trail technology from longtime partner Hart InterCivic. Verity® Voting includes enhanced security features, state-of-the-art software and hardware all designed and manufactured in Austin where the company is headquartered.

“Moving to the Hart InterCivic Verity Voting System gives voters a more accessible, secure and verifiable ballot to improve the voting experience for all Harris County Voters,” said Harris County Elections Administrator Isabel Longoria. “My goal is to use the coming weeks to learn and train staff about the Hart voting machines and offer all Harris County voters the opportunity to learn more about the new features.”

The first wave of 2,300 machines is scheduled to be delivered by March 1.

Through a competitive procurement process, the Hart machines were selected by a committee of representatives from Commissioner Court staff, the County Judge and technical experts from the County Clerk and Elections Administrator staff.

“Thank you, Harris County for your continued trust and partnership! We are excited and proud to support your transition to easy-to-use, secure paper-based voting technology,” said Julie Mathis, CEO of Hart InterCivic which has provided election services and solutions to the County for decades.

“Hart and Harris County have a history of innovation and challenges met. We look forward to building on this solid relationship for the benefit of the County’s more than 2.3 million voters,” she said.

The largest voting jurisdiction in Texas, Harris County has selected Verity Duo, a hybrid voting device that combines a touchscreen with a paper vote record available for recounts or audits. The printed ballot can be checked by voters before they feed it into a scanner that reads the voter’s choices, which are never hidden in a barcode.

Verity will also support Harris’ new Vote Centers, which allow any registered voter in the County to cast their Election Day ballot at whichever polling location is most convenient.

“There is no stronger example of Hart’s core values than our long relationship with Harris County,” Mathis said. “Relationships and exceptional customer service drive our success. Our proven, Texas-based products seal the deal. Our partners deserve nothing less.”

For more information about the Verity Voting system, please visit https://www.hartintercivic.com/better-elections/

About Hart InterCivic, Inc.

Working side-by-side with election professionals for more than 100 years, Hart is committed to helping advance democracy one election at a time. Hart’s mission fuels our passionate customer focus and a continuous drive for technological innovation. The result is Verity® – truly different election technology. Reimagined from the inside out, Verity Voting promises to provide jurisdictions with a future-proof investment in secure, transparent voting.