The Texas Supreme Court issued an order Tuesday evening temporarily blocking the Dallas County order.

DALLAS — The Texas Supreme Court has temporary blocked a Dallas County court’s extension for Democratic voters on Election Day, court records show.

According to the stay issued by the court, Dallas County is being ordered to separate votes cast by anyone who wasn’t in line to vote by 7 p.m.

This comes after a Dallas County judge extended voting hours from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. for Democratic voters, a court order shows, as new restrictions have led to many residents getting turned away from polling places.

Voters and poll workers have reported confusion as a new process is restricting where voters can vote on Election Day.

For example, election judges at Lee McShan Elementary in Dallas said they’ve seen a lot of people trying to vote at the wrong precinct. Two people living in the same home near Harry S. Moss Park may vote in two different places. Democrats must vote at Lee McShan Elementary, but a Republican living in the same precinct home would be required to vote at Benjamin Franklin International Exploratory Academy.

A poll worker at Harry Stone Recreation Center in Dallas told WFAA she had to turn away voters because only Republicans can vote at that location. 

Dallas County issued the following statement regarding the extension:

“Polls for the Democratic Party have been extended to 9 p.m. due to a court order sought by the Dallas County Democratic Party.

Dallas County Elections Department will work diligently to ensure voting in the Democratic Primary Election is extended for all voters during this time.

Any voter not in line by 7 p.m. will be required to vote by Provisional Ballot.

Polls for the Republican Party will close at the previously scheduled time of 7 p.m.”

Dallas County Democratic Party Chair Kardal Coleman filed the petition for the extension, the court order shows. Judge Staci Williams approved the extension.

“[V]oter confusion was so severe that the Dallas County Elections Department website crashed,” the court order reads. “[A]nd to ensure that voters are allowed to case their ballots all Dallas County polling locations are to be kept open and voting is extended from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.”

In an interview with WFAA on Tuesday evening, Coleman said these restrictions are something the party has been concerned about for several months.

“This all was preventable, but this is the result of having a non-joint primary,” Coleman said.

Coleman said the party had been working on getting the extension since the early afternoon. It was around noon, he said, when the party started getting hundreds of calls from voters saying they were getting turned away from their polling places.

This order came after the Texas Democratic Party released a statement urging counties to extend poll hours.

“This mishandling lies squarely at the feet of every Republican Party official who refused to work toward joint primaries, but instead peddled election conspiracy theories,” TDP Chairman Kendall Scudder said in a statement.

Democratic candidates Colin Allred and U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett are holding a press conference Tuesday evening to speak on the controversy. Senate candidate and state Rep. James Talarico released a statement saying he is deeply concerned about the reports of voters in Dallas and Williamson counties being turned away, and also called for an extension.