Dallas County's Republican Party chair announced Monday in a statement that he could be voted out as the local party leader for agreeing to hold joint elections for upcoming runoffs.
Allen West indicated in his weekly newsletter that party members are unhappy that he signed an amended contract with the county election department to hold joint Republican and Democratic voting in May.
West decided to abandon separate, precinct-based voting and return to joint, countywide voting after last month's chaotic primary elections that confused thousands of voters, which set off a chain of legal action in local and state courts.
"The wise and prudent individual understands when you say, 'Hey, let's just say we did it. We will learn from what happened, and we will move on,' " West said. "You don't go back to the well again, because I think that you could expose yourself to — like I said — some very serious legal ramifications and litigation."
He said holding another election that confuses voters from both parties opens up the Republican Party to potential risks, including disenfranchisement accusations.
West was reelected as chair one month ago in that messy primary election.
"I'm not resigning and I'm not changing my mind about signing the amended contract," he said. "But I don't have any problems if people want to bring a motion to vacate — even though I was just reelected for another two-year term in March. That's fine. But I believe it's the right decision and I'm not going to kowtow to 35 or some odd people that just want to have their way."
In his weekly message, West said executive committee members can vote to remove him at the next meeting on April 20.
Commissioner John Wiley Price said during commissioners court Tuesday that West seems to be getting punished by his party for making a practical choice for voters.
"Colonel West makes a once-in-a-lifetime — in my opinion — decent decision, and he gets ousted."
County Judge Clay Lewis Jenkins corrected the record to reflect that West has not yet been "ousted."
"They're gonna have a no confidence vote," he said.
Price said West has been criticized and the result will be ultimately the "same damn thing."
He asked Elections Administrator Paul Adams whether the runoff election signed contract can be reneged after West is removed from his position.
"I don't know of any legal requirement," he said. "I would say from an operational standpoint, we're going to get to a point where, as the administrator, I'm going to say we're moving along in the process too far...If a decision comes down...that rescinds in some kind of way, my argument is going to be with legal counsel [that] we're moving forward with this election"
"What happened in the last election is proof that we do not want any last minute changes," Price said.
West said that he has executed the will of his party since September when members voted to hand-count ballots in the March primary.
That effort was abandoned in December when the Dallas County Republican Party faced financial reimbursement, logistical and personnel challenges.
Still, West again moved forward with the party's choice to hold separate elections from the Democrats on Election Day, which proved disastrous.
"If [I] resign that says that I believe that I did something that's wrong," he said. "I didn't do anything wrong. I can understand if I had done something corrupt, scandalous or nefarious. But no, I made a decision that I think a lot of people can understand and a lot people agree with as well."
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