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About 7,000 ballots from Super Tuesday will be recounted in Dallas County, judge rules

The recount will take place on Wednesday at 8 a.m. at Dallas County's Elections Headquarters, the judge ruled.

Updated at 12:30 p.m. to include polling location information. 

Dallas County will recount ballots from 44 machines used in the 2020 primaries, State District Judge Emily Tobolowsky ruled Tuesday. 

The ruling was in response to Dallas County Election Administrator Toni Pippins-Poole's request to manually recount the votes after she discovered 44 thumb drives containing ballots that were not included in the final Election Day results.

Tobolowsky presided over a hearing on the matter Tuesday morning. 

The recount will take place on Wednesday at 8 a.m. at Dallas County's Elections Headquarters, the judge ruled. The recount will only concern the paper ballots from the 44 machines that were not originally accounted for.

Approximately 7,000 ballots were affected by the error, Pippins-Poole said Tuesday. The polling location sites affected were in Dallas, Garland, Grand Prairie, Irving, Mesquite and Rowlett.

A complete list of locations affected is located at the bottom of this article. 

Dallas County overall had a 23.6% voter turnout, with 73% of 317,011 voters casting ballots in the Democratic primary.

During the hearing, an attorney for Dallas County's Republican Party asked Pippins-Poole what assurances she could give to the public that everyone's vote will be counted.

"That’s the reason why I want this recount – to reassure their votes are going to be counted properly," she replied. "That is why we’re here today."

The drives represent almost a tenth of the total vote centers open on Super Tuesday, officials told WFAA over the weekend. 

The drives are a piece of voting equipment Dallas County began using for the first time during the March 3 primary elections. The system requires two thumb drives to record the votes— one is the main drive, the second is a back-up. It also creates a paper ballot record of the votes cast, according to court documents. 

RELATED: Judge to rule on request for recount of missing Dallas County votes

RELATED: Dallas County asks to recount Super Tuesday election results after 44 thumb drives discovered

Pippins-Poole filed the court petition and affidavit for a recount late Friday, according to county officials.

In the affidavit accompanying the court petition, Pippins-Poole said she only made the discovery while reconciling the books and discovered she did not have enough ballots for everyone who showed up to vote.

"Of the 44 thumb drives, 16 were not received in a timely manner to the Elections Department and 28 were from voting machines not scheduled to be used but were used by volunteer election officials," Pippins-Poole said in a statement Saturday evening addressing the blunder.

Pippins-Poole said she “consulted with the Texas Secretary of State” after discovering the uncounted drives and decided to petition a court to let her “reopen” the central counting process.

In the petition, the county said it would use the paper ballots from the ballot boxes of the 44 machines whose drives weren't counted and run those ballots through "the central counting station tabulator" to conduct the recount.  

Below is a complete list of the voting locations that will be included in the recount, broken up by zip code. 

75040:

-Northlake Elementary School (part of Garland ISD) at 1626 Bosque Drive, Garland; Republican machine

75043:

-Vernon Price Elementary School at 630 Stroud Lane, Garland; Democratic and Republican machines

-O'Banion Middle School at 700 Birchwood Drive, Garland; Democratic machine

-Lyles Middle School at 4655 S. Country Club Road, Garland; Republican machine

75050:

-Travis World Language Academy at 525 NE 15th Street, Grand Prairie, Democratic and Republican machines

-Hector P Garcia Elementary School at 2444 Graham Street, Grand Prairie; Democratic machine

75052:

-Betty Warmack Library at 760 Bardin Road, Grand Prairie; Republican machine

75061:

-David Crockett Middle School at 2431 Hancock Street, Irving; Republican machine 

-W T Hanes Elementary School at 2730 Cheyenne Street, Irving; Republican machine

75089:

-Dorsey Elementary School (part of Garland ISD) at 6200 Dexham Road, Rowlett; Democratic machine

75150:

-Poteet High School at 3300 Poteet Drive, Mesquite; Democratic and Republican machines

75181:

-J. R. Thompson Elementary School at 2525 Helen Lane, Mesquite; Democratic and Republican machines

75204:

-Multiple Careers Magnet Center at 4528 Rusk Avenue, Dallas; Democratic machine

75208:

-Sunset High School Annex Building at 2021 W Tenth Street, Dallas; Republican machine

75211:

-Leslie Stemmons Elementary School at 2727 Knoxville Street, Dallas; Republican machine

-Lelia P Cowart Elementary School at 1515 S Ravinia Drive, Dallas; Republican machine

-Anson Jones Elementary School at 3901 Meredith Avenue, Dallas; Republican machine 

-George Peabody Elementary School at 3101 Raydell Place, Dallas; Democratic machine

-Cockrell Hill City Hall at 4125 W Clarendon Drive, Dallas; Democratic machine

75214:

-Dan D. Rogers Elementary School at 5314 Abrams Road, Dallas; Republican machine

75217:

-Sure Foundation Baptist Church at 8805 Fireside Drive, Dallas; Democratic machine

75219:

-Oak Lawn United Methodist Church at 3014 Oak Lawn Avenue, Dallas; Democratic and Republican machines 

75224:

-CFNI Student Center at 444 Fawn Ridge Drive, Dallas; Republican machine

75227:

-Urban Park Elementary School at 6901 Military Parkway, Dallas; Democratic machine

-Skyline Branch Library at 6006 Everglade Road, Dallas; Republican machine

-San Jacinto Elementary School at 7900 Hume Drive, Dallas; Democratic machine

-Edward Titche Elementary School at 9560 Highfield Drive, Dallas; Democratic and Republican machines

-Forester Field House at 8233 Military Parkway, Dallas; Republican machine

75228:

-George Truett Elementary School at 1811 Gross Road, Dallas; Democratic machine

-S. S. Conner Elementary School at 3037 Greenmeadow Drive, Dallas; Republican machine

75229:

-Harry C. Withers Elementary School at 3959 Northaven Road, Dallas; Democratic machine

75230:

-Benjamin Franklin Middle School at 6920 Meadow Road, Dallas; Democratic machine

75232:

-Adelle Turner Elementary School at 5505 S. Polk Street, Dallas; Democratic machine

-Friendship West Baptist Church at 2020 Wheatland Road, Dallas; Republican machine

75241:

-Barack Obama Male Leadership Academy at A. Maceo Smith at 3030 Stag Road, Dallas; Democratic machine

75243:

-Richland College's LeCroy Center at 9596 Walnut Street, Dallas; Republican machine

75249:

-Park in the Woods Recreation Center at 6801 Mountain Creek Parkway, Dallas; Democratic machine

-Mountain Creek Library at 6102 Mountain Creek Parkway, Dallas; Democratic machine

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