Fort Worth voter raises concerns about polling place safety as COVID-19 cases spike
Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to reflect that early voting restarts Sunday at 11 a.m. The Tarrant County Election Office and the city of Fort Worth reconfigured the voting room to provide more social distancing on Thursday.
Surprise struck Mariza Olmos when she walked into the Northside Community Center Wednesday to cast her early ballot.
With COVID-19 cases spiking, Olmos expected a large venue for voters and poll workers to spread out, she told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. She was greeted instead with a “large supply closet” worth of space, she said, where there was not enough room to properly social distance.
“If one more person walked in here, I’m going to feel claustrophobic,” Olmos said of the space, which included four poll workers and her husband. “It was that close.”
Olmos posted about her concerns on Facebook, calling it “the Worst voting experience I have had,” and criticizing officials for not keeping voters safe. The space was so close she could easily touch any person and might have been able to see her husband’s ballot.
Tarrant County reported a single-day record for new coronavirus cases for the second consecutive day on Wednesday with 606 fresh positive cases.
Heider Garcia, Tarrant County’s election administrator, said he was aware of concerns at the Northside Community Center, one of the county’s smallest spaces.
He said he understood worries about social distancing in polling places, but with the short ballot — a primary runoff and the city of Fort Worth election for the police department’s special sales tax — Garcia said voting should be quick. Poll workers reported voters moved in and out of polling places within five minutes in most cases, he said.
Polling places were reporting “virtually no lines” even though 12,000 ballots had been cast since Monday. For comparison, the 2016 runoff election saw 13,000 ballots cast total, he said.
“People are moving super quick through the locations, which was one of the goals,” Garcia said. “We kind of weighed our options and said we believe it’s a smaller risk if it’s fast.”
Those with concerns about a polling place’s size can call the election office to be directed to a larger location, he said. Early voting runs through July 10 but is suspended Friday through Sunday at 11 a.m. for the holiday. Election day is July 14.
Last week, Garcia discussed efforts to make casting a ballot as safe as possible. Styluses will be sanitized and hand sanitizer will be on hand. Poll workers may ask that you use hand sanitizer there, before handing your ID to the poll worker. If the poll worker can’t recognize a voter wearing a mask, they may ask that person to pull it down or remove it just long enough to confirm their identity.
Olmos complimented the poll workers, who wore masks with hand sanitizer at the ready, but said she expected better of the city and county. The Northside Community Center has a large gym and several other bigger rooms, she said.
At least one would-be voter walked away after seeing the cramped space, she said, prompting concerns the space would turn off voters.
“It’s hard enough for us to get people to vote, and now you have an undesirable location,” she said.
Though the county election office runs the polling place, it is up to cities and schools to provide the space at the polling location. Garcia said his office requested a bigger room, but was told it wasn’t available.
A city spokeswoman said the city and county election office would look at the Northside site Thursday morning and possibly find an alternative. A children’s camp is also taking place at the center, she said.
Councilman Carlos Flores, who represents the North Side, did not return a call.
Garcia said this election will test how well pandemic-era polls can be run. Ahead of the November general election, it was already clear bigger spaces are needed, but the quick turnaround time was encouraging, he said. Conversations have already begun with the city about ensuring November locations are bigger.
“I think everybody is understanding that November is gonna be a big focal point and that we have to put every resource we have into,” he said. “That includes the large rooms.”
This story was originally published July 1, 2020 at 7:18 PM.
