Ken Paxton Texas Attorney General ES&S Audit Logs
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Christopher GleasonKen Paxton Texas Attorney General ES&S Audit Logs
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Christopher GleasonKEN PAXTON
ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS
January 3, 2024
Ms. Jessica N. Morrison
Assistant County Attorney
Williamson County Attorney’s Office
405 M.L.K. Street, #7
Georgetown, Texas 78626
OR2024-000106
Dear Ms. Morrison:
You ask whether certain information is subject to required public disclosure under the
Public Information Act (the “Act”), chapter 552 of the Government Code. Your request
was assigned ID# 23-091394 (Ref. No. 2023-1117-PIA).
The Williamson County Attorney’s Office (the “county attorney’s office”) received a
request for specified equipment manuals, audit logs, and communications. You claim the
submitted information is excepted from disclosure under section 552.101 of the
Government Code. Additionally, you state release of this information may implicate the
proprietary interests of Election Systems & Software, LLC (“ES&S”). Accordingly, you
state, and provide documentation showing, you notified these ES&S of the request for
information and of its right to submit arguments to this office as to why the information at
issue should not be released. See Gov’t Code § 552.305(d); see also Open Records
Decision No. 542 (1990) (statutory predecessor to section 552.305 permits governmental
body to rely on interested third party to raise and explain applicability of exception in the
Act in certain circumstances). We have received comments from ES&S. We have
considered the submitted arguments and reviewed the submitted representative sample of
information. 1
We note the submitted information consists of manuals and documents relating to the use
of electronic voting equipment provided to Williamson County by ES&S. We note the
1
We assume that the “representative sample” of records submitted to this office is truly representative of the
requested records as a whole. See Open Records Decision Nos. 499 (1988), 497 (1988). This open records
letter does not reach, and therefore does not authorize the withholding of, any other requested records to the
extent that those records contain substantially different types of information than that submitted to this office.
Post Office Box 12548, Austin, Texas 78711-2548 • (512) 463-2100 • www.texasattorneygeneral.gov
Ms. Jessica N. Morrison - Page 2
requestor has a right of access to this information pursuant to section 123.008 of the
Election Code. Section 123.008 of the Election Code provides, in relevant part, as follows:
(a) Each person who sells, leases, or otherwise provides an electronic voting
system or equipment to a political subdivision shall also provide any user or
operator manuals or other instructions or documents relating to the use of
the system or equipment. The general custodian of election records for the
political subdivision shall make those materials available for public
inspection in the custodian’s office on the request of any person.
Elec. Code § 123.008(a); see id. §§ 1.005(13) (defining “political subdivision”),
121.003(1)-(2), (4) (defining “voting system,” “electronic voting system,” and “voting
system equipment”). Upon review, we find the requestor has a right of access to the
submitted information pursuant to section 123.008 of the Election Code. Although ES&S
raises sections 552.110, 552.1101, and 552.139 of the Government Code for the submitted
information, a statutory right of access prevails over the Act’s general exceptions to public
disclosure. See Open Records Decision Nos. 613 at 4 (1993) (exceptions in Act cannot
impinge on statutory right of access to information), 451 (1986) (specific statutory right of
access provisions overcome general exception to disclosure under the Act). However, the
county attorney’s office and ES&S also assert the submitted information is confidential
under section 418.181 of the Government Code. Additionally, the county attorney’s office
also asserts the submitted information is confidential under section 418.182 of the
Government Code. Where information falls within both a general and a specific statutory
provision, the specific provision prevails over the general statute. See Gov’t Code
§ 311.026 (where general statutory provision conflicts with specific provision, specific
provision prevails as exception to general provision unless the general provision is the later
enactment and the manifest intent is that the general provision prevails); Cuellar v. State,
521 S.W.2d 277 (Tex. Crim. App. 1975) (under well-established rule of statutory
construction, specific statutory provisions prevail over general ones). Although section
418.181 of the Government Code generally makes confidential information in the
possession of a governmental entity revealing vulnerabilities of critical infrastructure and
section 418.182 of the Government Code generally makes confidential information in the
possession of a governmental entity which consists of access codes and passwords or
reveals the location of a security system used to protect public or private property from an
act of terrorism or related criminal activity, section 123.008(a) of the Election Code
specifically allows a person access to user or operator manuals or other instructions or
documents relating to the use of an electronic voting system or equipment provided to a
political subdivision. Thus, we find the right of access provided by section 123.008 of the
Election Code is more specific than, and prevails over, the confidentiality provided by
sections 418.181 and 418.182 of the Government Code. Therefore, the county attorney’s
office may not withhold any of the submitted information under section 552.101 of the
Government Code in conjunction with section 418.181 or section 418.182 of the
Government Code.
We note the submitted information may be protected by copyright. A custodian of public
records must comply with the copyright law and is not required to furnish copies of records
that are copyrighted. Open Records Decision No. 180 at 3 (1977). A governmental body
Ms. Jessica N. Morrison - Page 3
must allow inspection of copyrighted materials unless an exception applies to the
information. Id.; see Open Records Decision No. 109 (1975). If a member of the public
wishes to make copies of copyrighted materials, the person must do so unassisted by the
governmental body. In making copies, the member of the public assumes the duty of
compliance with copyright law and the risk of a copyright infringement suit. Accordingly,
the county attorney’s office must release the submitted information; however, any
information subject to copyright law may only be released in accordance with copyright
law.
This letter ruling is limited to the particular information at issue in this request and limited
to the facts as presented to us; therefore, this ruling must not be relied upon as a previous
determination regarding any other information or any other circumstances.
This ruling triggers important deadlines regarding the rights and responsibilities of the
governmental body and of the requestor. For more information concerning those rights and
responsibilities, please visit our website at https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/open-
government/members-public/what-expect-after-ruling-issued or call the OAG’s Open
Government Hotline, toll free, at (877) 673-6839. Questions concerning the allowable
charges for providing public information under the Public Information Act may be directed
to the Cost Rules Administrator of the OAG, toll free, at (888) 672-6787.
Sincerely,
Tim Neal
Assistant Attorney General
Open Records Division
TN/pt
Ref: ID# 23-091394
c: Requestor
