Six voting locations, including some of the busiest in south Dallas, were forced to turn voters away on Saturday.
Elections officials say the sites experienced a variety of problems, from voting machines malfunctioning to volunteers getting locked out of buildings. Three of the six sites affected were in District 7, which is in South Dallas. All of the sites were up and running again by 10:45 a.m.
Michael Scarpello, Dallas County's elections administrator, says he's reviewing Saturday's voting process. He has described the county's current voting infrastructure as "deficient."
Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson took to social media to express outrage over the issues at the voting sites. He released this statement:
"'Deficient' is never a word you want to hear associated with our local election infrastructure. It is unclear how many people were turned away Saturday because of hours-long closures of polling places in predominantly minority and low-income communities. That means it is also unclear how many voters did not know they are now able to cast ballots at another polling place outside their neighborhood, were unable to go elsewhere due to mobility or transportation challenges, or were totally discouraged from participating in their local election. But even one is too many. I am heartened that Dallas County Elections Administrator Michael Scarpello is willing to conduct a full review, and I am eager to understand what happened and why. The integrity of our elections is paramount, and any issues must be corrected before the June 5 runoff to ensure that all of our eligible voters are able to take part in the democratic process."
Dallas has countywide voting centers, so voters who were turned away could have cast their ballot at another location. It’s unclear how many people were turned away and how many of them decided to go somewhere else.