DALLAS — The return to hand-counting election ballots is underway for the Dallas County Republican Party. The group voted to proceed with hand-counting the March 3 primary election ballots.

What You Need To Know

Dallas County Republicans will hand-count the March 3 primary ballots

Last year Republicans suspected irregularities with voting machines that the Texas Secretary of State disproved. Still, Dallas County Republican Party Chair Allen West says there is a lack of confidence in Dallas County elections

Over 3,000 volunteers will be needed for the hand-counting process

Dallas County Democratic Party will continue to use the voting machines to count

Last year Republicans suspected irregularities with voting machines that the Texas Secretary of State disproved. Still, Dallas County Republican Party Chair Allen West says there is a lack of confidence in Dallas County elections.

“The trepidation that we see out there, we already know that machines are not fail foolproof. So I think that we need to give this a shot and give it a chance,” said West.

There were over 1 million registered Republican voters in Dallas County during the 2024 primary election.

With a contentious primary for U.S. Senate at the top of the next year’s ticket between incumbent Sen. John Cornyn, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt, a hand count could delay the election results or be inaccurate because of human error.

All county parties must have their election results within 24 hours after the polls close.

“We’ve seen delay of results even with computerized machines. So I think that we will be able to meet the standards that are out there required,” said West. “And I think that one thing that people will know is that their ballots will be counted accurately. They don’t have to worry about any confusion with any machines whatsoever.”

The Dallas GOP’s decision means that on March 3 all Dallas County voters will have to vote at their assigned precinct location rather than at a countywide voting center.

Dallas County Democratic Party Chair Kardal Coleman is concerned voters will be confused about where to vote.

“You will be able to vote anywhere countywide during early voting. And then on Election Day, you’ll have to vote at your home precinct. And we’ve not had that since pre-pandemic, so before 2020. So this has taken us back quite a few years once we got in the rhythm and routine of being able to vote anywhere,” said Coleman.

Democratic Party ballots will be tabulated by a machine, but they will need extra volunteers are certain locations.

A Republican hand-count process will require 3,000 volunteers to staff and count votes at anywhere from 300 to 330 precinct polling locations. A video shown on the party’s hand-count volunteer sign-up page requires at least two people to count ballots.

“There different ways that you can shift things around as far as the amount of counters that you have at the polling locations. There are going to be some polling locations that are not going to be as intense, as heavy as others. And so we can easily shift some of the volunteers around from certain polling locations,” said West.

President Donald Trump celebrated the decision, writing on Truth Social that paper ballots are “more accurate, totally secure… faster and only 9-percent of the cost.”

But the Dallas County Republicans spent over $300,000 to administer the 2024 primaries and have already raised over $400,000 to prepare for hand-counting ballots next year.

“It is more costly for voters,” said Coleman. “And it’s going to be a logistical hurdle to get done.”

With a now-split primary, Coleman says the parties plan to finalize their election plans with the Dallas County Elections Department this week.