Dallas County officials say voting equipment deployment is on schedule; commissioners demand fixes after training glitches

The Dallas County Commissioners Court heard a contested briefing April 15 on readiness for the May election, with elections staff saying equipment deployments have begun and commissioners pressing for a written logistics plan and fixes after training problems.

Commissioner John Wiley Price said he had asked for a “logistics plan” that detailed staffing, full- and part-time manpower and the step‑by‑step approach for early voting and election day. “I still have not received a play by play to what I'm calling the logistics plan,” Price said during the meeting.

Heydrich Garcia, the elections staff member who answered commissioners’ questions, said deployment began the day before the meeting and that the team had delivered the scheduled materials. “What I can tell you is that deployment started yesterday. We're on schedule. Everything that was scheduled to be delivered yesterday was delivered yesterday,” Garcia said. He told the court the team added extra quality-assurance steps and fresh leadership in warehouse and logistics after problems in November.

Commissioners pressed staff about connectivity and printing failures reported at some training sessions. Garcia and staff told the court they believe at least some training-room problems were caused by power and connectivity setups in the training locations rather than systemic equipment defects. As Garcia put it, “the way the power was literally daisy chained across all the devices” in one training room created printing and performance issues; the team said they were changing room layouts and testing devices more thoroughly before shipment.

Garcia also said ballot paper and hardware counts had been prepared for a turnout projection well above historical levels and that the county had equipment on hand and the ability to scale: “We have enough equipment to run presidential,” he said, adding that ballot books and paper were stocked in quantities intended to cover a conservative turnout estimate.

Price and other commissioners asked that any reports or training complaints they receive be forwarded to elections staff for troubleshooting and follow-up. The court also addressed a related contract detail: an item on the agenda for services tied to the county’s voter‑related vendors included a long contract term in the draft language. The court instructed staff to amend the contract language to make clear that any multi‑year term is contingent on annual grant or budget availability and on mutual renewal, and to present the edited language to the court for signature so both parties initial and accept the change.

The court approved the item after staff agreed to revise the contract language and to return the signed amendment so the record would reflect that annual funding and renewal remain conditions of performance. Commissioner Price also urged continued outreach to precinct chairs and seasoned poll workers, and encouraged public demonstrations scheduled in several locations so voters and workers can try the new poll books.

Court action: The court approved election‑related agenda items with the condition that staff revise the contract language to explicitly state that any multi‑year term is contingent on annual funding and renewal; the amended contract language must be initialed by both parties before final execution.

Ending: Election staff said early‑voting deliveries and initial deployments will continue and that the county will monitor turnout during the first days of early voting to trigger any needed scale‑up. Commissioners asked to be kept informed of problems reported in trainings so staff can replicate and fix failures before election day.