Texas Primary Ballots Face Uncertainty After Court Intervention

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The fate of primary ballots cast during extended polling place hours in two Texas counties remains unclear after intervention by the Texas Supreme Court.

The court put a stay on a lower court’s ruling on Tuesday night, impacting Dallas and Williamson counties, where there was significant confusion over voting locations. As of Wednesday afternoon, county election officials were awaiting direction on whether the ballots should be included in vote totals, according to the Associated Press (AP).

In Dallas County, the state’s second-most populous, Democrats expressed dwindling hopes that the late ballots would be counted. Terri Burke, executive director of the Texas Democratic Party, said the Supreme Court’s action was anticipated. Burke added that it is likely the late ballots won’t be counted.

It is unclear exactly how many ballots were cast during the extended hours. According to data on the Dallas County Elections Department’s website, 2,316 in-person “provisional” ballots were rejected or pending, a number that includes any ballots flagged for a variety of issues as well as those the high court ordered to be segregated. A total of nearly 280,000 people voted in the county’s election, based on unofficial figures from the department.

Burke attributed the chaos to the precinct-only voting system Dallas County was compelled to use. She said that this system, implemented following a change by local Republicans, restricted voters to casting ballots only at their assigned precinct, a departure from the county’s previous system since 2019 that allowed voting at any location.

Burke stated, “There is a case to be made, and we can document it, there were people who were disenfranchised.” She said she will attempt to push the legislature to repeal the 2006 law that requires both parties to hold a joint primary to prevent this sort of chaos: “If one party wants to wreck their primary, they should be able to do that but they should not be able to wreck someone else’s.”

In Dallas County, a judge ordered polls to remain open for two hours past the scheduled 7 p.m. closing time, citing “voter confusion so severe” that it caused the website of the county election office to crash, the AP reported. The extension, prompted by a petition from the local Democratic Party, applied only to Democratic voting precincts. There was initial concern that it could affect the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate because Dallas is the home base of Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett, but she later conceded to James Talarico, a state lawmaker.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office challenged the lower court’s ruling. Shortly after, the state Supreme Court stayed both decisions in Dallas and Williamson counties. Its brief orders said ballots cast by voters in both counties who were not in line by the 7 p.m. scheduled close of polls should be separated.

Emily French, the policy director for Common Cause Texas, said it is standard for ballots that are cast during extended poll hours to be set aside. She expects them to ultimately be tallied if no one is contesting the extension. Anthony Gutierrez, the executive director of Common Cause Texas, said the organization is continuing “to monitor this situation and will be weighing all options to ensure every Texan is able to have their vote counted.”