How Tarrant County plans to fix voting issues, prepare for surge in mail-in ballots
Tim Runkle, a longtime Fort Worth resident, had requested an absentee ballot ahead of the July 14 runoff election. But it never arrived due to a clerical error on the part of the Tarrant County Elections Department.
At 73, Runkle is eligible for a mail-in ballot under Texas’ requirements, and he had requested one both as a trial run ahead of the November general election and because he was concerned about casting his ballot in person amid the coronavirus outbreak.
On June 29, Runkle said he mailed his application for an absentee ballot to the Tarrant County Elections Department. Then he waited. And waited.
By the time Election Day rolled around two weeks later, there was still no ballot in Runkle’s mailbox. Runkle said he views voting as one of his most precious rights, and is “the guy that has a gimme cap with an ‘I voted’ sticker on the underside of the bill just to remind me of that.”
So without an absentee ballot, he risked voting in person, choosing a time he thought his polling place would be less busy, wearing a face mask and bringing his own pen.
“And I was kind of expecting to be turned away, because I would think if the record said, ‘We mailed this guy a mail-in ballot, he can’t vote in person also,’” Runkle said. “But there was no comment.”
After repeatedly following up with the Tarrant County Elections Department, Runkle was told that his ballot had never arrived — through no fault of his own. His application had been received on time on July 1, a day before the cutoff, election officials said. But a clerical error resulted in it not being entered correctly into the system.
Heider Garcia, the Tarrant County Elections Administrator, said Runkle was the only voter affected by the issue, and stressed that the Elections Department is putting in place measures to prevent it from happening again.
Runkle’s ballot request was posted on the wrong line in his voter file, meaning he was never added to the list of absentee ballots to be sent out — even though he should have been. To combat that, Garcia said his department is adding an extra layer of proofing to ensure that all the requests entered make it into the system.
“We learned from that and it’s a minor happening. Not for him, obviously. But again, it’s one in 21,000,” Garcia said, referring to the total mail-in ballots received by the county for the July election.
While the process of voting in-person felt as safe as the election workers could make it amid a pandemic, Runkle said he would rather not have done it that way at all. Ultimately, the entire experience left him wary of relying on an absentee for the Nov. 3 election.
“I really want this ballot to count. I, frankly, don’t trust the system,” Runkle said. “I may try it again later. But for now, I’m going to vote in-person.”
Preparation for November
In total 49 absentee were rejected for the primary runoff election, Donna McClung, the early voting coordinator for Tarrant County’s Elections Department, wrote in an email Thursday.
A majority, 36, were because the signature did not match the one on file. Six were due to the assistant or witness information not being properly completed, three were due to a statement of residence not being returned, another three were because they weren’t signed properly and one was because the voter had moved out of the county, McClung wrote. Of the rejected mail-in ballots, 20 were from Democrats, 27 were from Republicans and two had no party listed.
Faith Castillo, an election protection legal fellow with the Texas Civil Rights Project, oversees efforts across North Texas to help educate voters. Castillo said the July runoff was a learning lesson for counties to identify what worked and what didn’t when trying to run an election amid a pandemic where there was increased demand for mail-in ballots.
“I hope they adequately prepare so that we don’t see even larger numbers of people not having their ballots cast or counted,” Castillo said of election officials.
Garcia said the county is using portions of the roughly $2.1 million in federal funds from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act to ensure that his department can handle a surge in requests.
Earlier this month, Garcia said the county had already received over 30,000 mail-in ballot applications and will likely reach 50,000 with “hundreds of emails a day with requests.”
The county has purchased additional ballot printers, scanners and faster inserting equipment. With the extra equipment, Garcia estimates his office can print between 4,000 and 5,000 ballots a day.
In addition to the boost in capabilities, the elections department also contracted with a certified ballot print shop to do “massive scale printing” in order to mail out ballots sooner.
Coupled with additions on the front-end, Garcia said the department also added a barcode on each envelope to track ballots. That way, the department will be able to see how many ballots have yet to be delivered, and where they may have been stopped in the process if they are delayed.
Despite steps to improve the distribution process at a local level, a coalition of nearly 50 civil rights groups in Texas and 60 Democratic House lawmakers are calling on Gov. Greg Abbott and state election officials to do even more.
In response to the U.S. Postal Service’s warning that there’s a risk some mail-in ballots may be delivered too late to be counted for the November election under Texas’ deadlines, civil rights groups and lawmakers urged Abbott in separate letters to allow for county election officials to accept mail-in ballots seven days after Election Day. Other states, like Pennsylvania, have already sought to extend their deadlines.
The civil rights groups’ letter also calls for Abbott to allow mail-in ballot applications to be submitted electronically only — and not require a mailed hard copy — and allow for completed mail ballots to be turned in at secure drop-off boxes at early voting sites, like those already used in states like Michigan and Georgia.
Under Abbott’s proclamation that extended the early voting period by six days, voters now have the ability to deliver mail-in ballots in person to the early voting clerk’s office before Election Day, rather than simply on Nov. 3.
Civil rights groups called that a “good first step,” but stressed voters need as many options as possible.
“Given the increased number of Texans who will likely take advantage of this, the requirement to go inside and present an ID when submitting a ballot should be waived to cut down on lines and the burden on elections staff, and this would conform to how voters are otherwise allowed to deposit their ballots in the mail,” read the letter signed by groups including the Texas Civil Rights Project, the ACLU Foundation of Texas, Disability Rights Texas and more.
A spokesperson for Abbott did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday afternoon on whether more adjustments will be made ahead of Election Day.
Have a plan to vote
Regardless, Castillo recommends each voter have a plan to vote. If you’re voting in-person, go during the early voting period, which begins Oct. 13, Castillo said.
“We are well aware of what happened on Election Day in the March primary. And we definitely do not want voters waiting in long lines. We don’t want them waiting hours to go and cast their vote. That is a form of voter suppression in itself,” Castillo said.
For those who do qualify for an absentee ballot, Garcia is urging eligible voters submit their applications now, so they can be part of the first wave of ballots sent out in late September.
And know what resources are available to help, like the League of Women Voters and other groups, Castillo said. When Runkle experienced issues receiving his mail-in ballot, he called the 866-OUR-VOTE hotline, a resource for voters to get election information. It is staffed by a national, nonpartisan coalition of organizations across the country.
Castillo’s work this July included fielding calls from the hotline, and she said it received 34 calls from Tarrant Couny and 339 across all of Texas for both the early voting period and Election Day. The Texas Civil Rights Project worked with Garcia’s office to answer voters’ questions that ranged from where to find the nearest polling place to issues with receiving mail-in ballots.
Monday, Oct. 5 is the last day to register to vote in the Nov. 3 general election. Mail-in ballot applications must be received by Oct. 23. Early voting begins Oct. 13 and lasts through Oct. 30. Tarrant County voters can learn more about registering to vote or requesting a mail-in ballot by visiting the Tarrant County Elections website or calling 817-831-8683.
