A $569 million bond proposal to build two new high schools in Midland, Texas is facing numerous complications within the democratic process.
The proposal initially failed by 25 votes in November, triggering a recount which ended with it passing by 11 votes.
But it's not over yet.
A staffer at Midland's election office found a box at the bottom of a shelf that contained 836 uncounted ballots—more than enough to overturn the results of the election for a second time.
After confirmation from the election office of the ballots' authenticity, the box was opened by court order and officials are tallying up the votes, though it isn't a certainty that the revelatory ballots will result in an overhaul of the prior count.
Watch below.
#BREAKING The Election’s office in Midland has confirmed that the ballot box found Thursday afternoon is in fact fi… https://t.co/cgZfa3QLgX— Sammi Steele (@Sammi Steele) 1576507825.0
Kel Seliger, the state senator representing Midland, tweeted that the Texas Secretary of State overseeing elections is working with officials in Midland on how to move forward.
Every Texan deserves to have full faith in our elections process. I met with the @TXsecofstate’s office while in Au… https://t.co/4hFeT5ON6A— Kel Seliger (@Kel Seliger) 1576278779.0
their presence and guidance in Midland will help ensure the Midland County Elections Administrator moves forward in… https://t.co/ZEoAYTg2rG— Kel Seliger (@Kel Seliger) 1576278781.0
Elections administrator Deborah Land confessed that the mishap was "human error" and that she may have been the one to move it to the shelf where it stayed for over a month.
The saga has people exhausted.
How do you lose a ballot box??? https://t.co/hdf5aeGbqo— Noosh (@Noosh) 1576594878.0
"Missing" ballot boxes can make a huge impact on results in any election. I really don't get how this happens. Isn… https://t.co/Uk1OcpnyPM— Leonbergers (@Leonbergers) 1576563062.0
This has been a whirlwind for us https://t.co/I0sM3yuExG— Tracy Butterymells (@Tracy Butterymells) 1576552002.0
You had ONE JOB FFS https://t.co/M0A7O0DnzU— Bill Haselrick (@Bill Haselrick) 1576598674.0
In a time of faltering confidence in election security across the nation, some suspect foul play.
The thing that gets me about this is that they would've had to know that their recount numbers were off from the el… https://t.co/KOlc2EJlKY— John A. Marlatt (@John A. Marlatt) 1576599984.0
Box of ballots surfaces after recount gives a slim victory to a ballot initiative to fund hundreds millions of doll… https://t.co/g31xuiXRJ7— Gina InTheBurg (@Gina InTheBurg) 1576589216.0
This is very suspicious https://t.co/zm85feQzwN— A.T. (@A.T.) 1576550097.0
"Missing" ballot box? More like fake and fabricated votes created after the election results solely to change the… https://t.co/3TNLKy98fO— Austere Al Mond (@Austere Al Mond) 1576553643.0
Investigations and talks on how to proceed are ongoing.