Tarrant County judge says low voter turnout will help conservatives in municipal elections
Tarrant County Judge Tim O’Hare encouraged voters at a True Texas Project meeting Monday evening to take advantage of low voter turnout in municipal elections this May to get candidates they want in office.
O’Hare was there to speak with Sheriff Bill Waybourn and District Attorney Phil Sorrells about the county’s newly formed election integrity unit. Around 75 people came to House of Grace TX, a church in North Richland Hills, to listen to the discussion and ask questions.
True Texas Project, formerly the NE Tarrant Tea Party, has endorsed candidates up and down the ballot this election cycle, including Fort Worth council candidates Alan Blaylock, Charlie Lauersdorf and Jason Ellis.
Early voting begins April 24 for the May 6 election.
“This room right here can make a difference,” O’Hare said. “These elections, the turnout is so low by percentage.”
O’Hare said that in all the years he has lived in Tarrant County, he hasn’t ever seen municipal and school board elections “more quiet than they are right now.”
“By you bringing neighbors, friends, picking up the phone, doing postings on social media, there are races that, quite frankly, we ought not to be able to win that we can probably win just because we raise awareness and get people out,” O’Hare said.
O’Hare specifically mentioned Fort Worth City Council elections, where he said there were two incumbents who needed to be voted out. He did not name them.
“One of them believes men can have periods,” O’Hare said. “Need I say anything else?”
After the meeting, O’Hare said he was at the event to speak with voters and told a Star-Telegram reporter to call his office. A spokesperson for O’Hare who also attended the event did not know the incumbents O’Hare was referring to.
Other topics covered by the county’s top Republican leaders included the Tarrant County jail, the reason for the task force’s creation, voting machines and precinct voting.
Waybourn mentioned a video circulated by conservative news outlet Gateway Pundit before the 2022 midterm elections concerning allegations that Democratic nominee for county judge Deborah Peoples harvested ballots.
He said he felt “ethically challenged” to not be the investigative party, and said he had called the Texas Rangers, Attorney General’s Office and Tarrant County District Attorney’s office to investigate.
At 7:05 p.m. on Election Day, Waybourn said he felt his “conflict was over” and started the election integrity unit the next day.
During the question and answer segment, one person asked the panel if it was doing anything to get rid of voting machines because “they’re so easily manipulated.”
“I guess the short answer at this point is no,” O’Hare responded. “We’re not doing anything at this point to get rid of machines.”
O’Hare said he intended to call an election commission meeting that would be public, as well as a “closed door executive session discussion” to go over the election administrator’s performance sometime after May 6.
Tarrant County Election Administrator Heider Garcia did not immediately return a phone call and text message for comment Tuesday morning.
“I want to say all things are on the table,” O’Hare said. “I know there are a lot of people that want to get rid of the machines. I’m not telling you I’m a fan of the machines, want to keep the machines. I’m telling you you can cheat in paper ballots. You can in machines. You can cheat in all sorts of things.”
He mentioned the numbered ballot initiative in Ellis County, which O’Hare said Tarrant County officials had explored.
O’Hare also said he supported ending countywide voting.
