Effort to help inform voters used to countywide centers for entire primary for nearly a decade. Democrats backed the outreach, but GOP chief called it a money-waster.
By Tracey McManus
Dallas Morning News
https://www.dallasnews.com/
Smiley N. Pool / Staff Photographer
Dallas County plans to spend $1 million on a don’t-get-lost-at-the-polls campaign ahead of the March 3 primary, when voting will revert to local precincts on Election Day.
Early voting that begins Feb. 17 will remain at countywide centers, where voters can cast a ballot regardless of address. But for the first time in nearly a decade, residents must vote on March 3 at assigned neighborhood spots, a shift county officials say could sow confusion and disenfranchise voters unless they act fast.
“A logistics nightmare,” County Commissioner Elba Garcia said.
In response, the Dallas County Commissioners Court on Tuesday approved the $1 million voter education push aimed at warning residents about the change.
About half of the money will pay for direct mailers to all 1.4 million registered voters, spelling out where and how they can vote.
The rest will fund an expanded round of digital, social media and television advertising, far exceeding the county’s typical elections outreach budget.
Officials said the scale reflects how disruptive the shift could be for voters accustomed to countywide voting for the entire primary.
Election administrators said the education outreach is meant to reach voters repeatedly and early, before they show up at the wrong polling place and are forced to leave without voting.
The Elections Department typically budgets $300,000 per year for such efforts. County Judge Clay Lewis Jenkins abstained from the vote because of a conflict but did not elaborate.
Partisan split
Dallas County Democratic Party Chair Kardal Coleman said the education campaign is necessary amid weakened accessibility that he called “voter suppression.”
“I’ve been particularly concerned about how we reach out to every voter and how we get the message out,” he told The Dallas Morning News.
The switch from countywide voting centers stems from the Republican Party’s decision last year to hold precinct voting on Election Day, which in Texas forces the other party to do the same.
In a statement to The News, Republican Party Chair Allen West called the outreach campaign a waste of taxpayer money, saying “it’s a sad day when voters can’t be trusted to understand where they go to vote.”
While commissioners also approved 74 early voting sites, the number and locations for Election Day locations are not yet completed.
Patchwork precincts
Elections Administrator Paul Adams said both parties are consolidating some March 3 precincts. And in some cases, Democrats and Republicans who live next door to each other will have to report to different locations.
In other cases, members of both parties will cast ballots at the same sites.
“Wow, what confusion that’s going to be,” commissioner Andrew Sommerman said.
Adams said materials will include QR codes for residents to scan with phones to lead them to information for where to vote.
But commissioners worried about the disenfranchisement it could cause some voters. For example, three Seagoville precincts are likely to be consolidated to one, making it harder for impoverished residents of the Sandbranch community there to cast their ballot.
Late last year, the GOP initially moved to hold separate primaries to hand-count their party’s paper ballots on March 3. After failing to recruit enough workers, West abandoned that plan but moved forward with neighborhood precincts for Election Day.
Primary day reset
- WHAT’S CHANGING: For the March 3 primary day, but not early voting, those in Dallas County must cast ballots at assigned neighborhood precincts.
- VOTER OUTREACH: Dallas County approved a $1 million voter education campaign to alert residents about the voting changes, including mailers to all 1.4 million registered voters and expanded digital and TV outreach.
- CONFUSION: Officials fear voters accustomed to countywide voting could show up at the wrong location and be turned away.
Tracey McManus joined The Dallas Morning News in October 2024 and covers Dallas County government. She previously spent nine years as a reporter for the Tampa Bay Times in Florida and five years as a reporter for The Augusta Chronicle in Georgia. Tracey is a 2010 graduate of the University of Florida with degrees in journalism and Spanish.
