With Election Day fast approaching, a Denton City Council majority wants to know why Denton County officials haven’t established voting centers after the state Legislature passed a bill in 2021 allowing the county to do so.
Voting centers are general election day polling locations that operate as they do during early voting: allowing registered Denton County voters to cast their ballot at polling locations outside of their precincts, Denton County Elections Administrator Frank Phillips has explained.
Council members gave direction to city staff earlier this month to draft a letter to the county to discover why.
“In the metroplex, we are the only county that does not have vote centers,” council member Brandon Chase McGee said. “Early voting and election day in Tarrant County, Dallas County and Collin County, voters know that they can go anywhere they want and cast their ballot.
“Denton County is the only one that doesn’t do that. This makes it more difficult for our voters.”
According to the Texas secretary of state’s website, 90 counties have been approved to use countywide voting for general election day.
The Record-Chronicle contacted Dawn Cobb, director of community relations for Denton County, to find out why Denton County isn’t among them.
With all the election changes that have occurred in recent legislative sessions, Cobb said county leaders felt it was important to be consistent with the “voting process for both primaries and general elections to avoid confusion among voters.”
Early Monday afternoon, Cobb shared a statement from County Judge Andy Eads, who reiterated why voting centers haven’t been established yet.
“It is our understanding that the [local Democratic and Republican] Parties are not in agreement on this matter,” Eads said in his statement. “Making changes to the voting process is something to be done thoughtfully to ensure election integrity. It is of utmost importance that any changes we make has the support of all stakeholders.”
Neither the Denton County Democratic Party nor the Denton County Republican Party responded to requests for comments regarding Eads’ claim.
In September 2022, the Denton County Elections Administration said that county officials hoped to implement the countywide voting system for the Nov. 7, 2023, general election.
On the ballot this Election Day are several Texas constitutional amendments and a $309.6 million city bond package for voters to approve in Denton.
“For a county our size,” Phillips told the Record-Chronicle last year, it’s “kind of an anomaly” to not have voting centers.
“I think that’s one of the things that is aggravating to the voters; we’re a mobile society now,” Phillips told the Record-Chronicle last year. “It’s not uncommon at all to move within the counties located in the metroplex — Collin, Dallas, Tarrant. They’re used to voting there, they move here, and it’s different.”
During the Oct. 17 City Council meeting, McGee pitched the idea for city staff to draft a letter and said that if voting centers are put in place, it would be cheaper and save money for the city and, in turn, the taxpayers.
“Our duty as folks who oversee the financial budget of the city is to make sure we are being as frugal and wise with our tax dollars as possible,” McGee said. “Vote centers are a way for us to save money. And one of the most important things that we do is to make sure we are maximizing the voters’ tax dollars.”
Council member Vicki Byrd said she didn’t see any harm in drafting a courtesy letter to the county to find out why countywide voting hasn’t happened yet.
Although he wasn’t in favor of drafting a resolution, council member Chris Watts said he was in favor of a work session where they could learn more facts about the issue.
Council member Paul Meltzer pointed out that the county already has the technology in place to make countywide voting on election day a reality for voters.
“It’s obvious on the face of it that what’s confusing to voters is changing up the rules entirely between early voting and election day voting,” Meltzer said in a follow-up email to the Record-Chronicle.
“We know we have the ability to let voters vote at any polling place they walk into. That’s exactly what we already do during early voting. I would hope we could strike a blow for common sense here and make things simpler and more convenient for all voters.”
Mayor Gerard Hudspeth and council member Joe Holland were the only two on council who disagreed with the majority’s recommendation. Hudspeth said he didn’t think the city should be getting involved since Eads is tasked with managing a county of a million people, and he added that Eads is an approachable person.
Hudspeth compared the situation to “when we get notes from Austin telling us what to do.” He claimed it isn’t “a good look to do so in a formal way” and “take a position contrary to what he’s doing.”
“We don’t know where they are,” Hudspeth said. “We don’t know if it’s in process. We have no update about where they are in that process. And a formal letter that gets in the news and that gets everywhere that points a finger at the county is just not wise.”
Holland, on the other hand, was unsure why voting centers are needed and pointed out that voting locations are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. during early voting, which includes weekends.
“I fail to see how voting centers are going to save money,” Holland said. “We have stood on our heads to make it easy for people to vote.”
For general election day, the Denton County Elections Administration requires people to vote at the polling location for their precinct between 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on a Tuesday.
If voters are unable to vote during early voting, supporters of voting centers say the window of time to vote is limited when many voters work full time and election day is not considered a holiday in Denton.
In April, the Texas Senate passed Senate Bill 990 seeking to end countywide voting. It was left pending in the House Elections Committee.
In 2005, countywide voting for general election day began in rural counties and became popular among voters, especially in larger counties such as Harris and Bexar, and especially in large counties due to the long commutes from work to home that limit voters’ window to vote, according to a Texas Tribune report from April.
The Tribune reported that state officials with the secretary of state’s election division claimed it is popular among voters across the state because it allows them to vote at polling locations anywhere in the county.
Jasleen Singh, counsel in the democracy program for the Brennan Center for Justice, pointed out that several states across the country require countywide voting and called it a widely used option because it makes it easier for people to vote.
Prior to joining the Brennan Center, Singh served as deputy attorney general in the California Attorney General Office in the civil rights enforcement division. She said the biggest benefit of having vote centers is that it “provides accessibility through convenience.”
“It’s really just a commonsense option,” Singh said.