Residents urge Denton County to adopt Election Day vote centers after reports of redirected voters

Dozens of Denton County residents and election workers urged the Denton County Commissioners Court on April 1, 2025, to adopt countywide Election Day vote centers, saying current precinct-based Election Day voting is causing voters to be turned away or redirected.

The appeals came during the public comment portion of the court’s meeting. Speakers included local election judges, clerks and volunteers who said they had documented large numbers of voters who arrived at the wrong polling location and were sent elsewhere on Election Day.

Jane Scholz, who identified herself as a voter, election worker and voter registrar, said volunteers and judges counted redirected voters on two recent election days and that the results show a persistent problem. “An estimated 15, that’s 1 in every 6 voters, in the May primary runoff on Election Day were told they could not vote at the first polling place they visited,” Scholz said. “On November 5 … 11 percent, more than 7,000 registered voters were redirected according to our count.”

Other speakers described personal encounters. Dawnie Park, an election judge, said she observed multiple people who went to their assigned precinct only to be sent to other locations, sometimes as far as Flower Mound. Missy McCormick described driving a student who arrived at the wrong campus polling place to the correct location so the student could vote and then return to class. Several election clerks and judges said the pollbook or voter pad sometimes directed workers to a different site, and that voters—especially students, shift workers and people without flexible schedules—could not always return to their assigned polling place after being redirected.

Former Democratic Primary Elections Administrator Emily Meissner described how data were collected: Democratic judges were asked to hand-tally redirected voters and report the totals via an election worker feedback survey. Meissner said tallies came from 23 Democratic primary runoff locations on May 28 and from 43 of 47 Democratic primary judge locations on Nov. 5, with additional data collected by alternates at some Republican locations.

Speakers and supporters argued vote centers would reduce confusion and provisional ballots, improve access for working parents, students and seniors, and could lead to cost efficiencies by consolidating underused precincts. Dale Frey, a resident and former candidate for state office, pointed to other Texas counties that have adopted vote centers and said they saw “shorter lines and fewer headaches for election workers and voters alike.”

Court staff and the judge took public comments but did not provide immediate policy action during the meeting; the judge noted the item was not on the posted agenda and said the court would not provide an official response at that time. Several speakers said they had sought meetings with county officials to present detailed methodologies and would continue outreach.

Why it matters: Petitioners framed vote centers as an administrative change they say the commissioners court can enact to reduce Election Day barriers within Denton County and to modernize precinct procedures that they say have not kept pace with population growth and mobility.

What speakers asked for: Multiple speakers asked the court to (1) direct elections staff to study and present a plan for transitioning to vote centers, (2) publicly publish the redirected-voter tallies collected by judges, and (3) meet with the volunteer groups that performed the tallies to verify methods and results.

Clarifying notes from the record: The data described were gathered by Democratic judges and alternate judges who hand-tallied redirected voters and returned counts via a feedback survey; the exact methodology and any party breakdowns were not included in the court record and were offered as available by the volunteer group for follow-up meetings.

The court did not take action on vote centers during the April 1 session. Several petitioners said they will continue outreach and may return with formal requests or more data for the court to consider.