Members of the GOP\u2019s resolution committee took no action nor had discussion on hand-counting ballots during a Tuesday meeting, the last of the year.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of moving parts associated with it \u2014 I don\u2019t know that anybody at this point is convinced that all those pieces are working correctly,\u201d Richard Jimmink, who chaired the resolution committee, said after the meeting.<\/p>\n
\u201cHopefully, in the future, we\u2019ll get there,\u201d Jimmink added.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A push toward hand-counting ballots was \u201cone of the last moves\u201d of former county GOP Chair Bo French, according to the local party\u2019s newsletter sent Nov. 15.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The change would have meant turning away from the voting machines Tarrant County has used since 2019. It also would have required voters to cast ballots in their own precinct rather than at any polling location of choice across the county.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The local Republican Party could make the change without approval from the Tarrant County Elections Office or Commissioners Court as partisan primary elections are controlled by the political parties.\u00a0<\/p>\n
However, the Democratic Party would have been forced to make the switch to precinct-level voting, according to a state law aimed at preventing voter disenfranchisement within the system. The Democratic Party would not be required to hand-count ballots.<\/p>\n
The proposal drew criticism from some Republican election judges, nonpartisan voting advocates and leaders of the Democratic Party. They argued that the changes would vastly increase the cost of running both parties\u2019 primaries as well as compound the complexity of voting and counting ballots.<\/p>\n
Tarrant County Democratic Chair Allison Campolo was relieved Wednesday when told that hand-counting ballots \u2014 and the precinct-level voting it would have entailed \u2014 was off the table for the March primary.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the (GOP) ultimately chooses to not pursue precinct-level voting, then that is excellent news for all voters in Tarrant County, regardless of party affiliation,\u201d Campolo said. \u201cOur countywide vote centers have been and continue to be excellent voter resources, which expand ballot access for all Tarrant registered voters.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Tarrant County GOP\u2019s new chair, Tim Davis, did not respond to the Report\u2019s requests for comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When Davis was elected last month, he told the Report he didn\u2019t know yet if he\u2019d continue French\u2019s push for hand-counted ballots but said he\u2019s in favor of \u201cany system that is secure, that is accurate.\u201d<\/p>\n
Across the state, a growing number of local Republican parties are switching to hand-counting, including in Denton<\/a> and Dallas<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Those who support that method say such measures are more secure and transparent. To Jimmink, hand-counting is more reliable than voting machines, which he said can lose data, be interfered with or have hidden information.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve seen equipment failures. I\u2019ve seen processes that are inadequate,\u201d he said, listing incidents where he\u2019s seen voting machines glitch.<\/p>\n The voting machines<\/a> in Tarrant County received heavy scrutiny after the 2020 presidential election<\/a> amid unsubstantiated claims from Republicans of widespread election fraud<\/a>. President Donald Trump lost Tarrant County by less than 2,000 votes<\/a> during his reelection bid that year.<\/p>\n Tarrant County\u2019s then-election administrator Heider Garcia repeatedly defended the machines<\/a> over his tenure as being secure and reliable. There has been no evidence of widespread or coordinated election fraud under Tarrant County\u2019s current system.<\/p>\n In 2022, following Trump\u2019s persistent denial of his loss in the 2020 election, Republican Tarrant County Judge Tim O\u2019Hare ran on the promise to increase the county\u2019s election security<\/a>. He repeated throughout his campaign unsubstantiated allegations that Tarrant County saw significant \u201cmail ballot harvesting\u201d and \u201cDemocrats cheating.\u201d<\/p>\n In the year after O\u2019Hare\u2019s election, Garcia resigned after months of facing death threats<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Tarrant County Republican commissioners have historically been talked out of hand-counting and precinct-level voting because of the cost, Kat Cano, lead ballot board judge for the Tarrant County Democratic Party, told the Report in November.<\/p>\n While O\u2019Hare launched multiple initiatives<\/a> to tighten election security, he has stopped short of suggesting hand-counting ballots.<\/p>\n O\u2019Hare did not respond to the Report\u2019s request to comment. Nor did French, who resigned in November<\/a> to run for Texas railroad commissioner.<\/p>\n In recent interviews<\/a>, Trump has hinted that an executive order regarding election security and interference is on the horizon before the 2026 midterms.<\/p>\n Jimmink said he recommended to Davis that the GOP start the process of switching to hand-counting ballots sooner rather than later.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is what I would do: I would lay out a plan of all the pieces that need to be in place, when they need to be in place by, and people need to own specific pieces of it,\u201d he said. \u201cThen we can get it done, and we\u2019ll be doing tests all along.\u201d<\/p>\n Over November, the county\u2019s GOP hosted \u201cspeed tests<\/a>\u201d to assess how fast volunteers can accurately tally ballots.\u00a0<\/p>\n Clint Ludwig, Tarrant County Elections administrator, did not respond to requests for comment on what would need to be done to make the switch.<\/p>\n One hurdle Republicans face is staffing, as hand-counting would require about twice as many staff in each polling location than usual, election officials previously told the Report<\/a>. Normally, the goal is to have five poll workers per location, depending upon size.\u00a0<\/p>\n Most historically used locations would be ineligible for hand-counting, since state law mandates that hand-counted ballots be tallied in a room separate from where people are voting.<\/p>\n The political parties would also likely have to foot the bill for any cost increases to run primaries. Typically, Texas partially reimburses them for election-related costs. In 2023, the state warned county party chairs <\/a>that it wouldn\u2019t absorb higher-than-normal costs for the primary compared with previous years.<\/p>\n Advocates for hand-counting have suggested this additional cost could be offset by using unpaid volunteers as well as by not paying for the county\u2019s voting machines. The county\u2019s voting machines cost about $1,000 per polling location, according to election invoices sent to the city of Fort Worth and reviewed by the Report.<\/p>\n Jimmink conceded that it\u2019ll be a long process to implement hand-counting as logistics are addressed to figure out where to vote, how to count votes, how to verify that all votes are counted, and how to prove everyone\u2019s work.<\/p>\n \u201cMechanic stuff should be fairly straightforward,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s just making sure we can actually do it.\u201d<\/p>\n Drew Shaw is a government accountability reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at drew.shaw@fortworthreport.org<\/a> or @shawlings601<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Tarrant-GOP--1024x682.jpg\")
Richard Jimmink chairs a meeting of the Tarrant County Republican Party\u2019s resolutions committee on Dec. 9, 2025. (Drew Shaw | Fort Worth Report)
\nTarrant County\u2019s voting machines hold up to past scrutiny<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Goss-8-12-TTP-21-1024x683.jpg\")
Tarrant County Judge Tim O’Hare endorses a candidate during a True Texas Project meeting Aug. 11, 2025, at the Texas Star Golf Course in Euless. (Mary Abby Goss | Fort Worth Report)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/CAS_Polls-3-1024x683.jpg\")
A voting machine sits inside the W. P. McLean 6th Grade Center at 3201 S. Hills Ave. for the March 2022 primary election. (File photo | Fort Worth Report) | Fort Worth Report)<\/p>\n