GEORGETOWN — While changing ballot procedures to protect voter integrity may have been the intent during the March 3 primary, officials now say those shifts caused confusion, set the stage for state Supreme Court action and shined an unflattering spotlight on the area.
Turmoil in both Williamson and Dallas counties Tuesday night stemmed from not only the change in assigned precincts on Election Day over countywide voting but also making polling locations party-specific instead of open to all voters.
According to officials, the Dallas County election office website crashed due to “severe” voter confusion.
In Williamson County, officials have already said they will return to countywide voting for the Nov. 3 midterm election.
GOP Chairwoman Michelle Evans weeks earlier had said the changes were needed to safeguard votes at the ballot box.
In hindsight, not everyone agrees.
“I think everyone in Williamson County regardless of party affiliation can agree that every voter deserves a better voting experience than people encountered on Tuesday, and the frustrating part is that it was totally avoidable,” said Democratic Chairwoman Kim Gilby.
‘Loosey-goosey’
Primaries are generally considered partisan elections with the Democratic and Republican parties dictating how Election Day should run. This year the Republican Party established their preferences.
Both parties are required to agree on changes in policies and procedures and, in spite of their opposition, Democrats conceded to the new provisions.
Gilby and Evans attended a Jan. 27 Williamson County Commissioners Court session and discussed the new primary election procedures with members on the dais, including assigned precinct voting.
“These are the measures we want to implement in order to increase voter integrity,” Evans said.
Precinct 1 Commissioner Terry Cook said it all sounded “loosey-goosey” to her and she did not see what it had to do with integrity.
Evans responded the issue of protecting the sanctity of the ballot box was consistent with both the Republican and Democratic parties.
“We all have one goal. We just differ on how we achieve that goal,” she said.
In a Friday interview, Gilby said the Democratic Party was willing to work with the Republicans to have a joint primary, but “Evans and her executive committee were determined to go back to precinct-level voting.” During the January commissioners session, Evans told county officials the voting procedures would “revert” to the tried-and-true processes the county used prior to 2013.
Gilby argued that in 2013 registered voters numbered 200,000 less than they do today.
“(Williamson County) is growing so rapidly, I just didn’t understand why they wanted to do that,” she said.
Voter confusion
Voters also did not seem to remember those prior procedures or revert back to them easily. Residents confidently set out to vote March 3 at familiar polling locations only to discover they were not at the correct place or that it was party-specific.
The electrorate in both Dallas and Williamson counties said they were turned away from polling locations and unable to cast their ballots. National media, attracted by the maelstrom surrounding Dallas-based U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett’s bid to thwart state Rep. James Talarico’s Democratic primary run for the U.S. Senate, focused on the Texas voting controversy. The state has one of the earliest party primary elections in the country.
Williamson County residents also questioned the seemingly random choices of polling locations instead of city or county buildings.
In Williamson County, Hutto Mayor Mike Snyder declined the use of City Hall for the primaries, saying it caused too much disruption for the workers in that building.
In Taylor, City Hall was designated for the Democrats Tuesday, upsetting Republicans who have always voted at that location. They showed up to vote, only to be directed to other polling locations and adding to their drive-time.
Taylor spokesman Jerrod Kingery said the county administered the voting and operated the polling locations, not the city.
“Unfortunately, we don’t have any additional insight,” Kingery said.
Investigation possible
Precinct 4 Commissioner Russ Boles, a member of the GOP, noted it is the right of the Republican Party to decide whether to hold a countywide or precinct-wide voting, but he added he has real concerns with the way primary Election Day played out.
“I don’t understand what problem they were trying to fix. I know they claimed voter integrity, but our audits have always been good,” Boles said.
Due to the consternation and long lines at polling locations in neighboring Georgetown, the Georgetown Annex and Northstar Georgetown received a court order providing voters an extra three hours to cast their ballots.
Dallas County also received a court order allowing all locations to remain open until 9 p.m.
Normal primary voting hours are 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. But now the ballots cast at these locations after 7 p.m. may not count, pending a state Supreme Court ruling. According to officials, a new law requires a onehour notice of a hearing to be approved by the Texas attorney general to extend voting times and neither Dallas nor Williamson counties met the requirement.
Boles — who will face Democratic challenger Harmon Rhea on Nov. 3 — said he plans to investigate voters’ concerns, including hearing from Evans and Gilby at a future Commissioners Court session.
