A hand recount of ballots cast in last month’s Republican primary for Texas House District 108 found a difference of 15 votes, the Dallas County Elections Department announced Tuesday, but it did not change the outcome of the race.
Barry Wernick requested the recount after losing to incumbent state Rep. Morgan Meyer by 523 votes out of a total of more than 24,000 votes cast. Wernick said he didn’t want to overturn the results, but rather to “expose flaws, if any,” in the election system.
The 15 changed ballots represent .05% of all ballots counted, the elections department said. That’s in line with what is typically seen in recent recounts around the U.S., according to an analysis by the research group FairVote.
“The recount verified that the election results were an accurate and true reflection of the will of the voters,” County Elections Administrator Heider Garcia wrote in a statement. “Reviews like this demonstrate our department's ongoing commitment to election integrity and transparency.”
The elections department was unable to provide details on the difference in votes.
"We provide the election records and the space, but the party conducted the recount," elections department communications manager Nic Solorzano told KERA. "Now, whether or not that difference stemmed from an error in the manual recount or another factor, we couldn’t say."
KERA reached out to the Dallas County GOP but had not heard back by Tuesday evening.
Throughout the two-week process to recount ballots, Wernick repeatedly claimed without evidence that Dallas County’s voting software was “not lawfully certified” and that the elections department didn’t provide election night returns on social media or to right-wing news outlets – claims the department refuted.
GOP infighting
Wernick also aired his frustration with the GOP-led process on social media, saying he was unable to livestream the recount and asking Dallas County GOP chair Jennifer Stoddard Hajdu to recuse herself because she donated to the Meyer campaign.
“You would think that Republicans would be on the same page to expose all the possible chicanery with respect to our current systems,” Wernick wrote on X. “Sadly, instead of taking this opportunity to be at the forefront of making change for good, the chairs are counting every invalid vote advising me to contest an election in a Dallas County court where even with all the evidence we have, we are destined to lose.”
KERA asked the county elections department and state GOP leaders to observe the recount but did not receive a response.
The state GOP released a statement emphasizing that the recount “is just that, a recount of ballots.”
“An election contest, voter qualification issues, voting system equipment certifications, or other election issues such as guidance and interpretation of statute or law, are outside the scope of a recount and cannot be considered during this process,” the statement read..
Meyer will face Democrat Elizabeth Ginsberg in the general election in November.
Juan Salinas II is a KERA news intern. Got a tip? Email Juan at jsalinas@kera.org. You can follow Juan on X @4nsmiley
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