Two Election Day polling sites in Tarrant will be closed; workers worried about COVID
At least two polling sites in Tarrant County will be closed on Tuesday for the presidential primary runoff and Fort Worth election to renew a half-cent sales tax for police, because there are not enough people willing to work as coronavirus cases continue to spike.
Officials with the local Republican and Democratic parties, which are in charge of the election, say they wish they didn’t have to close any polling sites.
“We knew that this was always a possibility,” said Deborah Peoples, who heads the Tarrant Democratic Party. “Many of our election judges are older and in the high risk category. We were doing really well getting these staffed until we saw the huge surge in cases in Tarrant County.”
So far, 173 polling sites are scheduled to be open and Peoples and Rick Barnes, who heads the Tarrant Republican Party, said they believe Tarrant voters will have enough places to cast a ballot because of vote centers, which let people vote at any polling site in the county.
“I’m not concerned about there not being enough polling sites,” Barnes said.
Officials said they should find out Monday if any additional polling sites will need to close because of a shortage of election workers.
“Ideally they would have all opened,” said Heider Garcia, the county’s election administrator. “But we will see what happens between now and Monday.”
The two sites officials already know will be closed Tuesday are the Cross Point Church of Christ in Grand Prairie and the First Baptist Church of Watauga, Garcia said.
Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley said he heard the parties were struggling to find enough people, primarily election judges, to staff nearly a dozen polling sites.
“People are worried about COVID,” he said. “If you’re sitting there all day long, you obviously are more exposed.”
And even though Tarrant residents are required to wear face masks in public, they do not have to wear them at polling sites.
“A lot of workers are saying they don’t mind being clerks, but they don’t want to be the judge,” Whitley said. “They don’t want to be the one to confront someone when they come in not wearing a mask.”
Election officials have encouraged voters to cast ballots during the early voting period and by mail, if they are eligible, to try to reduce lines at the polls on Election Day because of coronavirus.
Peoples said there’s usually a last minute struggle to find election workers.
“Under the best of times, non-COVID times, we always have people who, at the last minute, back out,” she said. “On the day of the election, when some election judges have not come to pick up equipment, we have scrambled.”
Here’s what is on the ballot in Tarrant County:
▪ Democrats will choose between Mary “MJ” Hegar and Royce West for U.S. Senate; Kim Olson and Candace Valenzuela for U.S. Rep. District 24; Roberto R. “Beto” Alonzo and Chrysta Castañeda for railroad commissioner; and John Wright and Pedro “Pete” Munoz for County Constable Precinct 5.
▪ Republicans will choose between Elizabeth Beach and Brian Walker for the 2nd Court of Appeals District Place 7 and Jonathan Grummer and John Brieger for Precinct Chair 3990.
▪ Fort Worth residents will vote whether to continue a half-cent sales tax for the Crime Control and Prevention District for 10 years.
Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday.
