Why would anyone oppose Vote Centers?
Here are the reasons.
The Denton County Republican Party has blocked countywide Election Day voting for Denton County, since 2021. Until June 2025, the local Republican party chair wouldn't say why, at least in public.
But after VotingCentersNow! started advocating for countywide voting on Election Day, she spoke about her opposition at a public meeting.
Her arguments are based on unfounded claims and the premise that Election Day voting rules should be set for the convenience of Republican Party insiders, not the needs of voters.
"Convenience is not always good," said Melinda Preston, the GOP County Chair, at the July 8 County Commission meeting.
She ignored the thousands of voters of all political persuasions who are victims of Election Day confusion now. 10-15% leave the first polling place they visit on every Election Day now without voting, frustrated and sometimes disenfranchised.
You can see her comments in the 3.5-minute video to the right.
Here's a summary of her Six Reasons for protecting our outdated system:
1. Countywide voting would open the door to corruption.
But she doesn't say how this would happen.
We already have countywide voting during Early Voting when more than half of all Denton County voters cast their ballots. All Texas voters can vote anywhere in their county during Early Voting, and have done so for decades. Voters in 99 counties, with 85% of the state's voters, can vote countywide on Election Day as well.
She didn't talk specifically about voter fraud tied to countywide voting in our county or anywhere else in Texas.
2. Countywide voting on Election Day would endanger ballot secrecy.
This claim is based on something that happened 2 years ago in another county because of a fight between factions in the Texas GOP.
It didn't happen in Denton County. It's very unlikely it could happen today.
The former chair of the state GOP allegedly had his vote revealed by other Republicans in 2024 because of countywide voting.
This is a problem the GOP itself caused and now wants to use as an excuse to continue to confuse and frustrate voters...including its own voters!
Further, a new state law addresses the issue and the Texas secretary of state recently issued guidelines for handling ballots in similar situations that should protect voter secrecy going forward.
Our county elections staff knows what they need to do to protect our ballots should these bad actors try this here.
3. Election Day vote centers for all but primary elections would create confusion.
Eliminating the requirement for home precinct voting on every Election Day would eliminate the confusion, but as long as the GOP party chair objects, that's not going to happen.
One way to get around her objections would be for the county to approve countywide Election Day voting for all non-primary elections, but continue to require voting in your home precinct on Election Day during primary elections.
This would mean we'd have countywide voting on Election Day for most elections: non-partisan city and school board elections, general elections when voters choose among candidates of all parties, and elections where state constitutional amendments are on the ballot.
It's not the best solution, but it would limit the confusion to one election every two years. There are six or seven elections between the primaries where voters wouldn't suffer the confusion that affects 1,000-7,000 voters per elections.
Click image to see the 3.5-minute video.
4. Countywide voting on Election Day would force the Denton Republican Party to change the date and time of a meeting held once every two years for party insiders.
This argument is about the convenience of GOP party insiders over the convenience of voters.
"Precinct conventions" are held once every 24 months in GOP polling locations late at night on primary Election Day after the pools close and all the votes are tallied and sent to the county elections office. Very few people show up.
In 99 other Texas counties — with 85% of Texas voters — that have countywide Election Day voting, the Republican Party holds precinct conventions at other times and places.
The Denton GOP chair says that changing the time and location of these meetings would "damage the civic structure."
But the GOP in those 99 other counties generally seems to be doing pretty well, despite the change in the meetings.
In Tarrant County just south of us with nearly twice as many precincts, these meetings are held a few days after the primary election. Party officials say this has improved turnout at the meetings.
5. Voters would lose the warm feeling of meeting their friends in the home precinct polling location where they are now forced to vote on Election Day.
Most voters want to get in, cast their ballot and get on with their business as fast as possible. Are there areas of Denton County where Election Day voting is a big social occasion? Not that we know of!
There's also an argument that allowing countywide voting on Election Day would make it harder for candidates to talk to voters because they could not stand outside a polling place and know that all the voters there were voting on their race.
This claim is about the convenience of candidates, not about the right to vote or the convenience of voters. It's also true that any candidate who waited until Election Day to contact his voters this way probably would not be very successful.
6. Countywide voting would lead to long lines at polling places.
Our current system has long lines on some Election Days in some locations. At least with Vote Centers,
1) if lines were long at one location, you could go directly to another where your vote would count,
2) everyone in line would get to vote when they got to the front of the line!!!
It’s up to the County Commissioners -- all Republicans -- to make sure there are enough locations and poll workers to meet voter demand. The state also sets minimum standards for numbers of polling locations.
Since 2006, 99 Texas counties -- including all the urban counties except Denton -- have switched to countywide Election Day voting, aka Vote Centers. None have changed back to the old home precinct voting system.
The Texas secretary of state issues a report on Vote Centers every other year and has identified no significant problems with the program.