In Denton County, legally registered voters who cast ballots on Election Day face a challenge that may cost them their opportunity to vote in that election. This hurdle doesn’t exist in 96 other Texas counties, including our neighbors Tarrant, Collin and Dallas.
In the most recent countywide primary runoff election in late May, at least 7% of the legally registered voters who sought to cast ballots were redirected from polling locations for this reason.
This happens because in Denton County, we still require Election Day voters to vote at their assigned polling place. In contrast, during Early Voting, we can vote in any polling location in the county. In 96 other counties, including Tarrant, Collin and Dallas, voters can cast a ballot at any polling location in the county during both Early Voting and on Election Day.
Those assigned locations may not be the closest to a particular voter’s home or may be difficult for the voter to get to because of work or school obligations. Further, an assigned location can be changed without notice to voters, even between Early Voting and Election Day.
There’s no technical or security reason for this. We have a secure, reliable voting system. Once a voter is issued a ballot at one location, the system flags him if he tries to vote in another polling place.
This causes large numbers of our county’s voters to be redirected from the first polling place they visit on Election Day, even if they can’t make it to the “correct” location before the polls close.
Until now, we didn’t know how many voters were affected by this limitation because the county does not count those who are redirected on Election Day. However, on May 28, election judges in 25 Democratic polling locations counted the number of voters the law required election workers to turn away. We don’t know what happened at the 29 Republican polling locations.
This was a primary runoff election with low voter turnout overall, but still, of the 4,281 people who voted, at least 323 — about 7% — were redirected from polling locations because of this rule. If redirects had been counted in all 54 polling locations, this number likely would have been higher.
The Denton County Commission has had the power to fix this problem for the past three years but has taken no action.
It’s time for them to act. Please email County Judge Andy Eads, andy.eads@dentoncounty.gov, and your precinct commissioner and tell them so. You can also copy Frank Phillips, Denton County Elections Administrator, at [email protected] so he has a record of your support.
You can learn more about this issue and get your commissioner’s contact information at Voting Centers Now! at votingcentersnow.org.
Jane Scholz
Robson Ranch, TX
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