Tarrant judge’s fix for long voting lines? Parties need to scrap separate machines
This story has been updated to include state lawmakers’ Thursday announcement of a hearing on problems at the polls.
Some Tarrant County voters waited in long lines — some that took an hour or more to get through — to cast their vote Tuesday in the presidential primary election.
Officials said that was because the turnout at some sites was larger than expected, some sites were understaffed, and some voters are still getting accustomed to the new voting machines.
But frustration grew on Super Tuesday when there was, for instance, a long line of Democrats waiting to vote at a polling site as several machines went unused because they were set aside for Republicans.
Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley said he believes the problem can be avoided.
“I hope we will take advantage of what technology offers us and share the machines between the two parties,” he said Wednesday.
The catch is that early voting, which is run by the county, lets residents use any of the 600 voting machines set up to cast ballots in either the Republican or Democratic primary.
But on Primary Election Day, voting machines are dedicated to one party or the other — 1,015 to be used by Democrats and 1,767 set aside for Republicans — because that’s the way the local political parties wanted them set up. The parties run Election Day.
This wasn’t an issue in the past because Election Day voters used paper ballots to cast their votes, which are no longer available. The number of machines dedicated for each party was determined by reviewing past voter turnout, Tarrant County elections officials have said.
“We knew that there might be long lines,” Tarrant County Democratic Party Chairwoman Deborah Peoples said. “But everybody acts like this was something different. What would have been different would have been if we shared the machines. On Election Day in the primary, there have always been two separate elections.”
She said she’s willing to talk with election officials and review voter turnout data to discuss whether changes need to made.
Tarrant County Republican Party Chairman Rick Barnes was noncommittal about any changes to the system.
He did note that Democrats weren’t the only ones in long lines on Tuesday. Some Republicans stood in lines as well.
“The reality is there were two elections going on,” he said. “One was for Democrats, one was for Republicans. They are totally separate elections.
“They just happened to be in the same place.”
Compromise?
Worried about long lines, county officials encouraged Tarrant voters to cast early votes.
Some Democrats may have waited until Election Day to see how the South Carolina primary went on Feb. 29 — and to see if any presidential candidates dropped out as a result.
In the end, 124,581 Tarrant ballots were cast early; 140,350 were cast on Tuesday.
Whitley said there were some “hiccups” in Tuesday’s election, but voters seemed to adapt to the new machines. This was also the second election they could vote at any polling place.
But he said he wished the parties had agreed to share voting machines on Election Day.
Especially this year, since all in-person votes are cast on the machines, rather than on paper ballots that were available in past elections.
“We had a disagreement with the parties,” Whitley said. “They chose to not do what we recommended. I do believe that created long lines at some places.
“I hope we can come to an agreement and avoid this issue in the future.”
Looking ahead
Peoples said she and the party will review the election data and discuss options.
“We need to look at what was done wrong ... and how to remedy this,” she said.
She said precinct chairs made decided to have one ballot on each machine on Election Day because, in the past, some Democratic voters have felt mistreated at the polls by Republicans.
Keeping one ballot on each machine means there are two separate areas for voters at each polling site on Election Day — one for Republicans and one for Democrats.
Barnes said he is disturbed by comments about Republican judges.
“If they know of a rude election judge, I’d sure like to know who it is,” he said. “We are very particular about who represents us in the election and are willing to remove judges if they are not proper in the process.”
But as voters become accustomed to using the new machines, and vote centers, “it’s a little bit of let’s learn as we go.”
Barnes said he was frustrated Tuesday because he saw some of the long lines Democrats stood in and asked election workers to call the Elections Office to ask for more machines, which they never did. And he even offered to let the Democrats use a couple of the machines dedicated for Republicans.
“They refused it,” he said.
Some election workers, though, chose to use the machines at their voting site for both parties, rather than divide them up for Republicans and Democrats.
Thursday afternoon, state lawmakers in the Mexican American Legislative Caucus, Texas Legislative Black Caucus and Legislative Study Group announced they would hold a joint hearing on the barriers Texans experienced at the polls during Super Tuesday.
“We want to hear from elections experts, government officials, and impacted voters to arrive at concrete solutions for November. We must do everything in our power to protect the right to vote and enhance access to the ballot box in Texas,” Rep. Rafael Anchía, a Democrat from Dallas and chairman of the Mexican American Legislative Caucus, said in a statement.
Runoff election
Now, as the primary runoff looms on May 26, one race will be on the Tarrant GOP ballot and a handful will be on the Tarrant Democratic ballot.
Officials say the turnout is likely to be so low that long lines are not expected.
Barnes said he doesn’t know whether it would be a good idea to share machines on future primary election days.
“We are going to prefer an acknowledgment that we have two elections going on and not just one,” he said. “I’m not in the business of trying to do what’s easiest for the elections office.
“We are in the business of trying to do what’s best for the voter.”
Staff writer Tessa Weinberg contributed to this report.
This story was originally published March 5, 2020 at 6:00 AM.
