Elections official grilled over low staffing, technical issues at Dallas primary polling places

Rushed deadlines and staffing no-shows led to long lines and other technical issues at Dallas County polling locations in the March 1 primary, elections administrator Michael Scarpello told the Commissioners Court Tuesday. But commissioners had strong critiques for Scarpello, who they said didn’t do enough to prepare for those potential issues. “Last minute, you were scrambling,” Commissioner John Wiley Price said. “It’s operational inefficiency.” Scarpello pushed back repeatedly, speaking over commissioners and calling their claims misinformation or disinformation. He suggested using employees from other departments to help fill in for future gaps, and raising pay for election judges and poll workers. The issue stems from a new system of primary voting in Dallas County, where in an effort to streamline elections and make voting in partisan primaries simpler, both major parties host joint elections and share polling places.

That means two sets of election clerks and judges — equal numbers of Republicans and Democrats at each polling place — and it has also meant double the number of available polling locations countywide. Scarpello requested approval from the commissioners to merge or eliminate as many as 20% of Dallas County voting sites after the hiccups in the March primary. Fewer sites, he said, would mean fewer workers needed. For example, Dallas and Tarrant counties had roughly the same number of election day voters in the recent primary. Dallas County had 429 voting centers, while Tarrant County had just 191. Of Dallas’ centers, 67 had fewer than 100 voters each. Fewer than 50 voters showed up to 29 of those polling spots. “It’s a simple math problem,” Scarpello said. A long list of public speakers, including several election judges and local party officials, highlighted major issues in the primary but said Scarpello’s plan to limit the number of polling spots would be a good thing.