Here’s why Fort Worth-area voters might run into longer lines for the March 3 primary
Tarrant County officials have one piece of advice for voters this year.
Cast your ballots early.
This year is different from past presidential primaries: There will be no paper ballots to fill out.
Instead, all votes will be cast on voting machines the county bought last year, which brings the potential for long lines and delays at crowded polling sites on Election Day.
During early voting, Tarrant residents can use any of these voting machines set up around the county to cast a ballot in either the Republican or Democratic primary.
But on March 3, Primary Election Day, a certain number of the machines will be dedicated only for use by Tarrant Democrats and a certain number of machines will be set aside only to be used by Tarrant Republicans — because that’s the way the local political parties, which run the voting that day, want it to be.
“We are always going to be concerned about lines,” said Heider Garcia, Tarrant County’s elections administrator.
Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley said there’s one way to avoid Election Day lines.
“It makes sense not to put it off until the last minute,” Whitley said.
Early voting runs Tuesday through Feb. 28.
Primary election decisions
Tarrant voters first used the new voting machines in November for the constitutional amendment election.
Voters use a touchscreen to review the ballot and make their choices. Then the machine prints a list of candidates chosen. After reviewing their choices, voters put the ballot into a scanner at the site to formally cast their vote and drop it into the ballot box.
Here’s what could create long lines.
Early voting is run by the county. So county election officials will have both Republican and Democratic ballots on every machine placed in the 47 early voting locations. Any voter may use any of the approximately 600 machines set up across the county, Garcia said.
Primary Election Day is different because it is run by the local Republican and Democratic parties.
Local party officials have chosen to have only one ballot on each machine, so there will be a set number of machines for people to vote in the Republican primary and a separate set of machines for Democrats to vote.
Tarrant County Democratic Party Chairwoman Deborah Peoples said precinct chairs made the decision to keep one ballot on each machine because some voters, in the past, have felt mistreated at the polls by some Republicans.
Keeping one ballot on each machine means there will be two separate areas for voters at each polling site on Election Day — one for Republicans and one for Democrats.
“Even if there’s a wait, (precinct chairs) felt like they wanted Democrats to have a good experience at the polls,” Peoples said. “They were concerned if we went with this new sharing of machines, and there was a Republican judge there, that they might not have a good experience.”
Tarrant County Republican Party Chairman Rick Barnes said he, too, is worried about long lines building up on March 3.
“We need to make sure we don’t squash the right to vote,” he said, echoing the call for Tarrant residents to vote early if possible.
It’s a numbers game
Election officials have reviewed past voter turnout data to determine how many machines need to be at each Election Day polling place.
The difference this year is that voters can vote at any polling site in the county on Election Day, rather than just at one assigned location as they have in the past. So some decisions may be based on calculated guesswork.
The plan calls for 1,015 machines with Democratic primary ballots and 1,767 machines with Republican primary ballots to be spread out among 192 Election Day polling sites in Tarrant County.
Some places will have the same number of machines for each party, such as the Tarrant County Subcourthouse in Arlington, which will have 12 for each party.
Others won’t.
Keller Town Hall will have 11 for Democrats and 18 for Republicans. Paschal High School in Fort Worth will have six for Democrats and 12 for Republicans. And at Grace Temple Seventh-Day Adventist, seven machines will be for Democrats and three will be for Republicans, records show.
Republicans typically turn out in greater numbers than Democrats during the presidential primaries in Tarrant County.
Four years ago, for instance, 105,183 votes were cast in Tarrant’s Democratic primary and 215,386 votes were cast in Tarrant’s Republican primary. That compares with 31,698 votes in the Democratic primary and 89,653 in the Republican primary in 2012.
The most recent exception was 2008, when Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton squared off against each other, drawing a record 200,317 Democratic primary voters to the polls in Tarrant County, compared with 101,761 Republican primary voters.
Vote early
Before you vote, election officials suggest you review polling sites; make sure you have proper ID with you; and read through sample ballots to know which candidates are on the ballot.
But if you show up at a polling site on Election Day intending to vote in the Republican primary, and all the machines there with the GOP ballot on them are in use, you’ll wait in line even if there are machines not being used on the Democratic side.
But if you decide to vote on Election Day, and find yourself in a long line, Garcia suggests talking to the election judge there — or calling the Tarrant Elections Office at 817-831-8683 — to see if nearby polling sites are less crowded. There also will be maps on Election Day with the four nearest voting locations.
“We will try to get that information for you,” Garcia said. “Try not to get caught in the chaos of Election Day.
“Try to vote early.”
This story was originally published February 13, 2020 at 6:00 AM.
