Some Fort Worth early voting sites lack sanitizer and machines are too close together
Some Fort Worth-area residents say they’re concerned that voting machines aren’t being cleaned after each use in Tarrant County and that, at many polling sites, machines are so close together it’s not possible for visitors to socially distance.
“They were set up like they would be in a typical year,” Holly Stallcup said after voting at the University of North Texas Health Science Center in west Fort Worth. “It just caught me really off guard.”
Stallcup, who runs a Christian women’s community group in the Fort Worth area, said the voting machines were fewer than six feet apart, and that she wasn’t offered a clean stylus pen to sign her name and fill out her ballot. Also, she said some poll workers weren’t wearing masks properly.
When Stallcup finished voting and got back into her car, she thought: “Wow, that was really unsafe.”
Stallcup is far from alone.
Pam Wright, who voted at a White Settlement facility, said that voters “were almost shoulder to shoulder” and that voting booths didn’t have privacy screens.
Wright said she didn’t report the problems while at the extremely busy White Settlement voting center, but did later call the Tarrant County Election Administration to report her concerns — and an employee there promised to deliver the complaints to a supervisor.
Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley said he has heard complaints from many residents saying they weren’t offered a clean stylus pen to vote, and that many voters and election workers weren’t socially distancing, or wearing masks.
Whitley told the county’s election staff they needed to improve training and address the concerns.
He also asked if the county could separate one voting machine, for use by those who refuse to wear masks. Although election officials strongly urge everyone visiting an early voting center to wear a face covering, state law doesn’t allow local officials to require masks for entry to a polling site.
The county’s district attorney’s office told Whitley they would not recommend the county treat voters that don’t wear a mask differently, because it would raise concerns about constitutional voting issues.
Voting in a pandemic
Heider Garcia, Tarrant County election officer, warned county officials several weeks ago that his agency’s decision to deploy 993 voting machines — far more than the roughly 600 machines used during early voting in past elections — could cause a space crunch at some of the county’s 50 early voting locations.
Knowing that this election likely would draw a record turnout, Garcia said he and other election officials determined that the best strategy was to use as many voting machines as possible to get voters in and out of polling sites — rather than using fewer machines and placing them a minimum of six feet apart, but then forcing voters to stand in line potentially for hours.
“We want to try to socially distance as much as we can, but we won’t sacrifice the number of machines to have people six feet apart,” Garcia told a joint meeting of the county’s election commission and election board. “If we do, the line will go around the building.”
As of Friday afternoon, Tarrant County is on pace for a record turnout — with 39% of registered voters already casting their ballots, including early voting and mail-in ballots already returned. However, after huge crowds and long lines were reported during the first week of early voting, the lines have become more manageable in recent days.
Voters can check wait times at all 50 polling sites in the county by visiting the election office website, where an interactive map provides regular updates on wait times.
Early voting for the Nov. 3 election continues through Friday, Oct. 30.
Garcia added that, even though some voting centers are so busy it’s not possible for election workers to clean voting machines after every use, the machines are cleaned at least every half hour with a disinfectant solution that won’t harm the machine screens.
He also said that voters should be offered a disinfected stylus pen to sign their name on the computer screen at the check-in desk, and also to make their selections on the ballot. Voters who aren’t offered a clean stylus pen should ask an election worker for one.
In the event of rain or cold weather, Garcia said, election workers are looking for ways to give more people shelter while they are waiting in line at some voting centers. For example, at one Northeast Tarrant County voting site, the room layout was altered to create more indoors space for people in line, while still keeping people at least six feet apart.
But at many smaller voting locations, voters may have to decide whether it’s worthwhile to wait outside the building in the elements, or perhaps try visiting another nearby voting center.
