Dallas County has a new election administrator: Paul Adams, who was named president of the Ohio Association of Election Officials in 2024 and is the Lorain County Board of Elections Director in Ohio.
The election commission Adams of Ohio on Tuesday after a nationwide search.
He replaces Heider Garcia, who resigned to accept a job with Texas voting system vendor Hart InterCivic, which was better for his family, according to a county official.
Dallas county's Democratic Party chair Kardal Coleman made the motion to choose Adams.
That was seconded by county Republican Party chair, Lt. Col. Allen West, who had opposed Garcia's hiring.
Garcia had previously been Tarrant County's election administrator.
He accepted the same job in Dallas in 2023 after a disagreement with Republican County Judge, Tim O’Hare.
Dallas County Judge Clay Lewis Jenkins chairs the election commission.
"If you're a Democrat in a red county or a Republican in a blue County, you probably know going in the deck's not in your favor, but you know it was a fair election," he said. "We're always looking for that integrity and Paul has good integrity"
County Clerk John Warren and County Tax Assessor Collector John Ames also make up the commission.
One of the four job finalists, also a front-runner, had previously done work for the Republican Party.
"It's very important that in elections, that both sides, and particularly the side that doesn't end up winning, knows that the election was free and fair and it may not have gone their way, but it was a fair election," Jenkins said.
Deputy Elections Administrator Melissa Kouba will run the department until Adams arrives later this month.
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