<\/p>\n
Outside of the Tarrant County Administration Building in Fort Worth on Tuesday, March 21, 2023.<\/p>\n
Madeleine Cook<\/p>\n
mcook@star-telegram.com<\/p>\n
The incumbent Tarrant County Clerk is calling out a Democratic primary candidate for not understanding the job.<\/p>\n
In the Star-Telegram\u2019s 2026 March 3 Primary Election Questionnaire, Democrat candidate Lydia Bean said the county clerk has authority over the elections administration<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThe incumbent has helped our County Judge advance his voter suppression agenda,\u201d Bean said in the questionnaire. \u201cI will stand up for voting rights as the deciding vote on the Tarrant County Elections Commission.\u201d<\/p>\n For the average resident, the county clerk\u2019s office is where someone goes to file or get copies of important personal and business records. According to the website, the office also collects over $24 million in fees<\/a> and fines and $17 million in bonds.<\/p>\n County Clerk Mary Louise Nicholson, who is running for re-election in November, said her office has not had authority in the elections administration since 1999, when the county commissioners created the elections administrator position.<\/p>\n Nicholson has held the seat since 2011<\/a>. Bean, a small business owner, was the Democratic nominee for Texas House District 93 in 2020 but lost to Republican Matt Krause<\/a>.<\/p>\n By statute, the Tarrant County Clerk is the vice chair<\/a> of the County Election Commission, which meets regularly for updates from the elections administrator about election matters. The Texas Legislature in 2011 outlined that the commission cannot do anything beyond appointing, accepting the resignation of or recommending the termination of the county\u2019s election administrator.<\/p>\n The commission is chaired by the county judge and includes the tax-assessor collector, the county Republican Party chair and the county Democratic Party chair. As of now, four of the five are Republicans.<\/p>\n \u201cGiven the above, the idea the County Clerk can advance an agenda of voter suppression or otherwise influence an election outcome is baseless,\u201d Nicholson said to the Star-Telegram in a statement.<\/p>\n Bean said she stands behind her questionnaire response because Nicholson \u201crefused to stand up to\u201d County Judge Tim O\u2019Hare when the previous elections administrator, Heider Garcia, resigned in April 2023 following disagreements with O\u2019Hare<\/a>.<\/p>\n \ud83d\udfe5Election 2026\ud83d\udfe6<\/p>\n Get Star-Telegram headlines in your inbox<\/a>.
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