The work of Tarrant County’s Republican-led election integrity task force remains unclear after the county sheriff and district attorney declined to share details at a public meeting Tuesday.
County commissioners were scheduled to hear a briefing on the task force’s work during their June 9 meeting. Sheriff Bill Waybourn and District Attorney Phil Sorrells, who oversee the unit, didn’t show up because they weren’t given enough time to prepare.
“We received word back from the sheriff’s office and the DA’s office that with the shortage of time of the notice to present that they would not be able to present at this meeting,” county administrator Chandler Merritt told commissioners.
If given “more time to adequately prepare,” both the sheriff and district attorney would be willing to give the briefing at the next commissioners meeting, Merritt added.
Commissioner Alisa Simmons, a Democrat who requested the briefing, questioned the elected officials’ absences, saying the task force’s work should be “transparent, accountable and subject to public review.” She wants to know what the task force has completed since its creation in 2023 and how many complaints or cases it has reviewed.
“Routine oversight requires information, and residents deserve to know how this task force is operating, what it has accomplished, and how it works to serve the public,” Simmons said.
Spokesperson Robbie Hoy confirmed via text message that Waybourn couldn’t be present because of the short notice. The office was asked to “provide a lot of information which we didn’t have readily available and would have taken time to gather,” Hoy said.
A spokesperson for the district attorney’s office did not immediately return a request for comment.
It’s unclear when Simmons’ office notified the sheriff and district attorney of the requested briefing. Simmons’ spokesperson did not return a request for the date the offices were notified.
As of 2024, the task force was made up of one sheriff’s investigator and three attorneys from the district attorney’s office. The unit investigates election integrity complaints sent to either office.
GOP County Judge Tim O’Hare launched the task force with Waybourn and Sorrells, both Republicans, to make it easier for the public to report voter fraud. O’Hare is seeking reelection in November, and Simmons is running against him.
Neither O’Hare nor commissioners Matt Krause and Manny Ramirez commented on the absences or scheduled briefing.
Commissioner Roderick Miles said it’s important to “inspect what you expect.”
“There’s value in being able to inspect and critically review the information to make sure it's meeting this court’s expectations and this community’s expectations,” Miles said. “I don’t think that’s too much to ask.”
Waybourn and Sorrells were also absent from a scheduled briefing on the task force in 2024. At the time, Merritt told commissioners the task force received 82 complaints of alleged voter fraud but filed zero charges over 15 months.
Since, Simmons said, there have been no public updates about the unit’s work or what it’s costing the county.
Officials previously said the task force’s creation would have “little to no budgetary impact” because it didn’t require new staff positions.
There have been no verified reports of widespread voter fraud in Tarrant County.
In February at county elections administrator Clint Ludwig’s request, a group of about 50 volunteers hand-counted the roughly 95,000 ballots cast in the Texas Senate District 9 runoff election that saw a historically red north Fort Worth district flip blue. The audit, intended to verify the election’s integrity, did not find any errors.
Cecilia Lenzen is a government accountability reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact her at cecilia.lenzen@fortworthreport.org.
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