Texas Supreme Court blocks Dallas County extension of polling hours, clouds primary votes
The Texas Supreme Court temporarily blocked a lower-court order that had kept Dallas County polling sites open for an extra two hours, and ordered that ballots cast by voters who were not in line before 7 p. m. local time be separated — a move that throws votes from the extended period into question.
Texas Supreme Court orders disputed ballots separated
The state's top court directed election officials to separate all ballots cast by voters who were not in line before 7 p. m., creating an immediate procedural split in the count. The decision landed in the middle of a tight Democratic primary for Senate, where state Rep. James Talarico and Rep. Jasmine Crockett are locked in a close contest.
Judge had ordered polling places to stay open; provisional ballots used
Earlier Tuesday evening, a Dallas County judge had ordered Democratic polling sites to stay open for an additional two hours. Voters who used that extended window cast provisional ballots, Nick Solorzano, a spokesman for Dallas County Elections, said.
Hundreds turned away amid confusion in Dallas and Williamson counties
Texas Democrats said thousands of voters in Dallas and Williamson counties showed up at the wrong polling sites during the day. While voters in past early voting periods could cast ballots at any countywide voting location, Election Day voting in this primary was limited to party-specific precinct polling sites, which election officials say confused many people and led to some voters being turned away.
Texas Democratic Party Executive Director Terri Burke said, "Around one-third of the voters are having problems, " and added that she believed redistricting and the move to precinct-based voting contributed to the confusion.
Precinct-only voting, a shelved hand-count plan and mixed messages
Political parties, not local governments, oversee Election Day voting for Texas primaries. Counties had moved in recent years to countywide voting centers, but Dallas and Williamson ran their primaries at the precinct level, forcing Democrats to follow suit. Dallas County Republicans had pushed to hand-count ballots amid concerns about counting machines but abandoned that plan because of high costs; the precinct-level voting plan went forward.
Calls to the Dallas County Elections Department reached an automated message noting that voting is precinct-based on Election Day and that voters must cast ballots at their assigned polling sites. The message also offered an option to find "Election Day Vote Centers, " language that election officials say may have added to voters' confusion. Voters who do not appear on a precinct's list of registered voters can cast provisional ballots, but if they are not at their assigned polling sites those provisional ballots will not be counted.
Rep. Jasmine Crockett's campaign said, "Both Dallas and Williamson county voters have grown accustomed to countywide voting, including on Election Day, " and argued the change had led to people being turned away from the polls.
With the Texas Supreme Court's order in place, election officials must segregate the ballots cast after 7 p. m., and the status of those votes will remain uncertain as election workers and party officials proceed through the count in the closely watched primary between Talarico and Crockett.
