The Travis County Republican Party is appealing a court's dismissal of a lawsuit alleging the county is not following bipartisan staffing rules at polling sites.
On Wednesday, the Texas Third Court of Appeals dismissed a lawsuit alleging Travis County had failed to hire an adequate number of Republican election workers.
Matt Mackowiak, who chairs the Travis County GOP, announced Friday the party has appealed the ruling to the Texas Supreme Court.
A formal complaint was also previously filed with the Office of the Attorney General and the Texas Secretary of State early last week, he said.
Earlier this week, the Travis County Republican Party filed a lawsuit against the Travis County Elections Division. The suit was filed in a local district court on Tuesday against Dyana Limon-Mercado, in her role as the county clerk and election administrator.
The Texas Elections Code requires each polling location’s lead presiding judge and alternate judge to be affiliated or aligned with different political parties. It also requires, if possible, that the county select poll workers from different parties.
The presiding judge is in charge of the management and conduct of the polling place, which includes designating working hours and duties for poll workers. Poll workers greet and check in voters and assist with any ballot issues.
The county’s election department is operating 42 early voting locations across Travis County. On Election Day, there will be 176 polling sites across the county.
But the county’s Republican party is claiming there are not enough Republican election judges assigned to each location.
Mackowiak says there are 10 early voting polling locations that have no Republican alternate judges. He also says half of all early voting locations have no Republican poll workers either for the morning or evening shifts.
Early voting ends Friday night.
Election Day, Mackowiak says, is just as bad, with about two in five polling locations where no Republican poll workers have been assigned.
“It is totally unacceptable that large portions of our county have no Republican election judges assigned, despite our providing far more than the number of available workers needed,” Mackowiak said. “This is an egregious example, and we look forward to our day in court.”
This lawsuit is part of a trend across the country of Republican and conservative groups filing lawsuits challenging the integrity of elections. In August, the Republican National Committee filed a lawsuit against Detroit, alleging that city officials haven't hired enough Republican poll workers.
The Travis County lawsuit asked the judge to replace Democratic and unaffiliated election officials with people from a list of over 900 potential Republican election workers the party submitted to the county clerk.
But the Third Court of Appeals denied that request Wednesday, saying it was moot. The ruling did not provide any additional details. Justice Chari L. Kelly issued the decision with two other justices in an emergency hearing this week.
Mackowiak said the judges' decision "can reasonably apply to Early Voting, which ends today, but it cannot reasonably apply to Election Day, which is Tuesday, Nov. 5."
In a written statement Friday, Limon-Mercado’s office said it is working with the Travis County Attorney’s Office to respond accordingly.
"Despite the multiple distractions, our office continues to prepare for Election Day and remains committed to administering an open and accessible election for all eligible voters," she said. "We appreciate the continued dedication of the team of bipartisan election workers and their ongoing commitment to serving Travis County.”
