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John O’Shea, a Tarrant County Republican Party precinct chair, talks to members of the party during an executive committee meeting on Jan. 8, 2026, in Fort Worth. (Drew Shaw | Fort Worth Report)<\/p>\nTarrant County GOP officials promised to continue exploring hand-counting ballots for future primary elections, despite determining that the move would be too logistically challenging for the March 3 primaries.<\/p>\n
Some local Republican Party officials argue that hand-counting paper ballots would better protect voters\u2019 information and ward off potential security gaps in electronic voting machines.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not doing the ballot hand-count right now, not because of any lack of effort, or because we didn\u2019t consider it serious. Trust me, we did,\u201d John O\u2019Shea, a Republican precinct chair, told members of the Republican Party during a Jan. 8 executive meeting.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut we\u2019re going to get there, I promise you,\u201d O\u2019Shea said.<\/p>\n
John O’Shea, a Tarrant County Republican Party precinct chair, talks to members of the party during an executive committee meeting on Jan. 8, 2026, in Fort Worth. (Drew Shaw | Fort Worth Report)<\/p>\n
Democratic Chair Allison Campolo decried the Republicans\u2019 exploration of hand-counting, calling it slower, more expensive and \u201csignificantly less accurate and less secure\u201d than the county\u2019s current machines.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are chasing a conspiracy theory to guide them to make poorer choices, and if they do, it will negatively affect all Tarrant voters regardless of party,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Tarrant County\u2019s election security 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 fewer than 2,000 votes<\/a> during his reelection bid that year, but won it by over 42,000<\/a> in 2024.<\/p>\n Hand-counting ballots would be a switch from the county\u2019s current system of using the Hart Intercivic voting machines<\/a>. These machines, while electronic, don\u2019t connect to the internet and store voters\u2019 information on external hard drives.<\/p>\n Republicans can make such a change to their March partisan primaries unilaterally, as such elections are run by the local Republican and Democratic parties. This differs from May and November elections, which Tarrant County administers.<\/p>\n GOP officials considered hand-counting ballots over the fall<\/a> as a team of precinct chairs explored what funding, staffing and systemic changes would be needed. Their efforts included hosting \u201cspeed tests\u201d to assess how fast volunteers could accurately tally ballots.<\/p>\n Tarrant County GOP chair Tim Davis declined to comment on how the local party intends to continue exploring hand-counting ballots.\u00a0<\/p>\n Republican officials on the team looking at hand-counting ballots told GOP precinct chairs that, while the team feels the effort is important, the party doesn\u2019t have the time, resources, funding or logistics to make the change by this March.<\/p>\n However, officials added that the party is still working to take \u201cevery measure possible\u201d to ensure \u201cfree and fair\u201d elections.<\/p>\n Her sentiments were similar to those of the Dallas County GOP that ab<\/a>a<\/a>ndoned its plan<\/a> to switch to hand-counting, citing logistical cost and staffing issues. However, both Dallas and Williamson County Republicans plan to employ precinct-level voting<\/a>, meaning voters would have to vote in the specific precinct determined by their home address.<\/p>\n Hand-counting ballots would notably require the Tarrant County GOP to also switch to precinct-level voting. Tarrant voters can cast ballots anywhere in the county currently.<\/p>\n While the Democratic Party wouldn\u2019t be required to hand-count ballots, it would have to switch to precinct-level voting, under a state law that aims to prevent partisan disenfranchisement.\u00a0<\/p>\n That would mean both parties would need hundreds of new voting locations unless they considerably consolidate precincts. Tarrant County has about 700 precincts \u2014 significantly more than the 200 voting locations available in the 2024 primary elections.<\/p>\n Those opposing such a move said these challenges would disenfranchise voters and make counting ballots too expensive.<\/p>\n \u201cI am absolutely stunned that any faction of the (GOP) is still attempting to conduct hand-counting in a county of over 1 million eligible voters,\u201d Campolo said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Typically, Texas partially reimburses the parties for election-related costs for primaries. 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 Hand-counting ballots poses a challenge for poll workers and election judges in ensuring thousands of ballots are accurately tabulated within 24 hours. State law does not require<\/a> hand-counted results to be audited, as it does for machine-tabulated ones, and it severely limits public observation of the counting process.<\/p>\n In March 2024, about 69,000 Republicans cast votes in Tarrant County on Election Day as did about 36,000 Democrats. The 2022 primary saw about 61,000 Republicans cast ballots on Election Day and almost 36,000 Democrats.<\/p>\n Tarrant County elections hold up to past scrutiny<\/p>\n Calls to hand-count ballots have grown louder since 2020 amid skepticism and misinformation campaigns about machines used for voting and tabulating ballots.<\/p>\n Then-election administrator Heider Garcia repeatedly defended<\/a> Tarrant County\u2019s elections over his tenure as being secure and reliable. No evidence of widespread or coordinated election fraud has been found under Tarrant County\u2019s current system.<\/p>\n In 2022, following Trump\u2019s persistent denial of his loss in 2020, Republican Tarrant County Judge Tim O\u2019Hare ran on the promise to increase 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 After O\u2019Hare\u2019s election win, Garcia resigned after months of facing death threats<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n O\u2019Hare launched multiple initiatives<\/a> to tighten election security, including creating an election integrity unit in 2023 to investigate any reports of fraud or security gaps. The unit\u2019s investigations have not resulted in any criminal charges<\/a>.<\/p>\n In recent interviews<\/a>, Trump has suggested that an executive order regarding election security and interference is on the horizon before November\u2019s midterm elections.<\/p>\n Abandoning countywide voting would reduce the use of the county\u2019s electronic<\/a> system used to check in and verify voters at polling sites \u2014 a system some Republicans argued is insecure because the systems connect to the internet. The e-pollbooks are different from voting machines, which do not connect to the internet.\u00a0<\/p>\n While there are documented cases of e-pollbooks being subject to information hacks and glitches<\/a>, Tarrant County uses one of the only <\/a>systems nationally certified as secure and reliable by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission<\/a>.<\/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