Resident group urges Denton County to adopt countywide "vote centers" for election day voting

Jane Scholes, a Denton resident and volunteer election worker, urged the Denton County Commissioners Court during public comment to adopt countywide election day voting — commonly called vote centers — arguing the current home-precinct system causes confusion and prevents some voters from casting ballots on election day.

"On individual election day, 10 to 15% of Denton voters struggle to vote because of our home precinct voting rule. That's 1,300 to 7,000 voters on every single election day," Scholes told the court, framing the numbers as estimates compiled by volunteers in her group. She said many voters do not understand home precinct rules or provisional ballots and that 99 other Texas counties use vote centers.

Scholes said her group has met with several commissioners and the county GOP chair, is collecting petition signatures and plans to register speakers for future public comment to press the issue ahead of the 2026 election cycle. She presented three options to the court: adopt countywide vote centers for all elections, adopt vote centers for nonprimary elections only, or require the county to mail or call every registered voter before each election to tell them where to vote on election day. She acknowledged the third option would be expensive.

The court did not take action on the request during this meeting; the remarks were recorded in the public comment period for items not on the agenda.