Dallas County Republicans say they’re planning to go ahead with hand-counting tens of thousands of Election Day ballots cast in the upcoming March 3 primary after raising more than $400,000 towards the effort.
The county GOP party also said more than 1,000 people have signed up to count the ballots in an effort that would make the county the largest jurisdiction in the country to hand-count results on Election Day. Other large jurisdictions in the country have hand-counted ballots, but they’ve done so after an election and to verify the accuracy of machine counts, including as part of an audit.
“Not only are the eyes of Texas upon us, but the eyes of America,” said Dallas County Republican Party Chairman Allen West, a former congressman, in a social media statement Friday. West said the effort is meant to “restore confidence in our electoral process.”
That decision means all Dallas County voters will have to cast ballots at their assigned precinct rather than at countywide vote centers on Election Day. By law, if one party wants to use precinct-based voting, then the other must do the same. And by law, any hand-count of ballots has to be done at each of the county’s polling locations. During the 12-day early voting period, voters will still be able to cast ballots anywhere in the county.
In Texas, political parties have the authority to decide how they’ll administer primary elections and how they want to count ballots on Election Day. State law requires the party to report election results within 24 hours after polls close. Failure to do so could result in a misdemeanor charge.
The Republican primary ballot in 2026 will include a hotly contested and closely watched U.S. Senate primary for the seat currently held by U.S. Sen. John Cornyn.
The Republican party has yet to sign a contract with the Dallas County Elections Department locking in the plan, something West said he now plans to do this week.
Voters in the Democratic primary will still use voting equipment to cast their ballots. But Dallas County Democratic Party Chairman Kardal Coleman said the requirement to vote in precincts rather than countywide vote centers means the party will now need to secure more than the usual 450 locations for Election Day and the additional workers to staff them.
“Not just for Democratic voters, but this is going to adversely affect every voter who may show up in the wrong location,” Coleman said. “It’s already causing chaos and confusion.”
The county Republican party also must secure a minimum of 360 polling locations with the required space needed to conduct the hand count — fewer than the Democrats because Republicans are the minority party in Dallas County. The GOP will have to find enough money for all needed supplies, including everything from ballot boxes to printing tally sheets to the tables and chairs needed for counting. It isn’t clear how much of that has been done.
In a brief text message Monday, West clarified the party does not plan to hand-count absentee ballots or ballots cast early in person — only Election Day ballots.
According to a 2024 primary election final cost report Votebeat obtained from the Texas Secretary of State Office through a public records request, Dallas County Republicans employed more than 1,400 workers on Election Day at a cost of more than $248,000. Polling place rental fees cost nearly $50,000. Those costs are certain to increase, because hand-counting requires more people to count and additional locations.
Limited transparency with a hand count
In September, Dallas County Republicans voted to hand-count the primary ballots if they could raise enough money and recruit enough workers. A similar effort by the party in 2023 was shut down after the party failed to raise the expected $1 million it would need.
In 2024, the Dallas County parties conducted a joint primary. Voters were able to cast ballots anywhere in the county because both parties agreed to use the state-approved countywide polling place program. The program is aimed at reducing the costs of conducting an election for counties and easing voter confusion.
The method of hand counting has proven to be inaccurate and costly. In Texas, hand-counting has fewer transparency requirements than other methods.
The only people permitted in the area where the hand count is happening are precinct judges, who are in charge of supervising the polling locations, the election clerks counting ballots, and poll watchers appointed by candidates or political action committees.
And unless a candidate requests a recount or the party decides to do so, no provision in state law requires a recount or an audit of hand-counted election results to check for accuracy.
When Republicans in Gillespie County hand-counted more than 8,000 ballots during the March 2024 primary, the party days later found they’d made errors in the tally of 12 out of 13 precincts’ totals.
And they spent more than double of the costs of the 2020 primary, public records show.
Taxpayers foot some of those costs. After the primary, the state reimburses local parties for some of their primary election expenses, including administrative costs, election worker hourly rates, and election supplies. The Texas Secretary of State’s Office has already warned party officials that it won’t cover higher-than-normal costs for the primary compared with previous years.
According to the 2024 primary final cost report, Republicans in Gillespie paid more than $40,000 for 355 workers who spent nearly 24 hours counting. In the 2020 primary, when the party used the county’s voting equipment to tabulate results, the party employed 45 workers at a cost of nearly $7,000. Gillespie County Republicans plan to hand-count ballots again in 2026.
Natalia Contreras is a reporter for Votebeat in partnership with The Texas Tribune. She is based in Corpus Christi. Contact Natalia at ncontreras@votebeat.org.
