Friday, March 29, 2024

GOP chair clarifies comments about 2022 primary

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Republican Party Chair David Fischer has clarified statements he made at Tuesday's regular meeting of the Commissioners Court that seemed to leave the door open for the GOP to conduct its own primary election next year rather than contracting with the county’s Elections Administration office.

The 355th district judge seat and nine county positions will be on that ballot. Currently, all county elected offices are held by Republicans.

If the Republican Party were to fund and spearhead its own primary contest, it would result in a host of changes to the primary election process, according to Elections Administrator Michele Carew.

However, the morning after the Commissioners Court meeting, Fischer indicated that there is little chance of that happening.

“I don’t see how we can afford to do anything besides work with the elections administrator,” he told the HCN on Wednesday.

Fischer said that the party “is looking at our options,” but also stated that he doesn’t see how the party has a choice but to contract with Carew.

Fischer’s comments at Commissioners Court were part of an ongoing disagreement about the sequential numbering of ballots and criticism of Carew by some Republicans.

The county’s new Hart Intercivic Duo Verity hybrid voting system provides a verifiable paper trail and audit capabilities but does not sequentially number ballots. Carew said the system provides better protection of voters’ privacy.

The Secretary of State has approved the system and gave Carew high marks for her handling of the 2020 presidential election.

In addressing the county judge and commissioners, Fischer noted three times that the Republican Party does not yet have a contract with Carew for the 2022 primary election. He also said that the party will be asking for sequentially numbered ballots because it wants to “abide by the law.”

The Granbury City Council has offered to pay its “fair share” of higher costs involved in shifting to sequentially numbered ballots, if that is what the county chooses to do, City Manager Chris Coffman stated at the meeting. He also said that the city “is completely satisfied” with its contract with the county and added, “We’re tickled to death that the county provides this service.”

Mayor Jim Jarratt also spoke. He said that he “disagreed somewhat” with Coffman’s view about the city’s ability to conduct its own elections and said that the city “could put together our own voting arrangement.”

However, he acknowledged that there would be added cost involved and that a city-run election would not have “the efficiency or the reach” that the county provides.

Jarratt indicated he is “anticipating” that sequentially numbered ballots will ultimately be required.

The county is currently awaiting an opinion from the attorney general on what County Attorney Matt Mills said are “two main questions”: whether computer-generated numbers are legal, and whether the Commissioners Court has the authority to mandate a particular type of balloting system over the elections administrator’s objection.

“That (second question) would really only be relevant if both systems are legal,” Mills noted in an email to the HCN.

The Commissioners Court has the authority to create or dissolve an elections administration office and it controls that office’s budget. However, the hiring, firing or discipline of an elections administrator is controlled by the Hood County Election Commission.

Members of the commission include the county judge, both party chairs, the tax assessor-collector, and the county clerk.

Robert Vick, one of several speakers who addressed the court, said that the law that references sequential numbering of ballots is being misinterpreted and applies to paper ballots, not electronic voting machines.

County Judge Ron Massingill said that he asked Carew to reach out to other voting entities within the county to see if those entities would be willing to pay proportional costs involved in moving to sequentially numbered ballots. A minimum of 100,000 ballots would have to be ordered at a cost of about $20,000, he said.

Each entity wrote back to Carew stating that they would not be willing to do so, Massingill said.

Carew was out of state at a training conference and was not in attendance at the Commissioners Court meeting.

WHAT IT WOULD MEAN

The HCN spoke with Carew by phone hours after the Commissioners Court meeting. She stated that, should Republicans decide to move forward with a plan to run their own primary election, the decision would be made by the county’s Republican Executive Committee. The group is composed of precinct chairs.

She said she has been told that fundraising would be conducted to pay associated costs.

Carew also stated that, under such an arrangement, the county’s 10 Vote Centers would not be utilized. Instead, both Republicans and Democrats would be required to operate 16 precinct-specific polling sites within the county, for a total of 32 polling locations.

According to Carew, voters would only be able to vote at the polling site in their precinct.

Vote Centers were created by a previous Commissioners Court several years ago as a convenience to voters. Locals can cast their ballot at any Vote Center regardless of where they live.

If Republicans ran their own primary election, party leaders would have to arrange for a minimum of three poll workers at each site, Carew said. Election Day tallies would have to be brought to her office that night so that she could report the numbers to the state.

Carew said she believes that such a system would result in a significant delay in the posting of election results.

She also noted that her office would still be responsible for early voting. The early voting period typically spans two weeks.

Another issue raised by Carew was pay for poll workers.

The state reimburses pay for poll workers at a rate of $8 per hour, she said. The county supplements that pay.

Currently, with the county supplement, poll workers are paid $12 per hour. If the proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2021-2022 is approved by the Commissioners Court, that pay will be raised to $15 per hour starting Oct. 1.

Precinct 2 Commissioner Ron Cotton, who will be seeking a second term next year and will be among those listed on the Republican primary ballot, said that he interpreted Fischer’s comments as a threat intended to put pressure on Carew.

“That’s what the whole (Republican) Executive Committee wants,” he said. “I’m not in favor of that. I’m in favor of the county running the election. I have total confidence in the elections administrator to run a fair and efficient election.”

Cotton said he believes that the issue is being pushed by a small group of Republicans. He said he does not know whether most Republicans in the county might support the party conducting its own primary election.

Carew serves as president of the Texas Association of Elections Administrators. According to Massingill, she has voted in Republican primaries for the past 10 years.

Election administrator offices were created by the legislature to handle voter registration duties and to provide nonpartisan oversight of elections. Traditionally, voter registration has been handled by tax assessor-collectors and elections have been managed by county clerks. Both positions are partisan.

In a July meeting of the Hood County Election Commission, Fischer and County Clerk Katie Lang voted to terminate Carew.

Their effort failed with the nay votes of Massingill, Tax Assessor-Collector Andrea Ferguson and Democratic Party Chair Adrienne Martin.