On Tuesday night, a judge in Dallas County ordered Democratic polling locations in Dallas County to stay open for an additional two hours, extending voting until 9 p.m. local time.
Texas Democrats reported that thousands of voters in Dallas County and Williamson County arrived at incorrect polling sites. Under this yearâs primary rules, Election Day voting is limited to party-specific precinct polling sites, unlike the early voting period and prior elections in which voters could use countywide voting locations. Texas Democratic Party Executive Director Terri Burke said some voters were turned away and others cast provisional ballots.
Dallas and Williamson counties chose to run their primaries separately at the precinct level, which required Democrats to do the same. In Dallas County, Republicans pursued precinct-level voting with the goal of hand-counting ballots, later abandoning hand-counting due to cost while retaining the precinct-based plan. An automated Dallas County Elections Department phone message notes precinct-based Election Day voting and also references âElection Day Vote Centers.â