Southlake reopened streets near its Town Hall polling location Saturday after the Tarrant County Republican Party obtained a temporary restraining order amid complaints that a Diwali festival restricted early voting access.
Photographs a Southlake resident provided to The Dallas Express showed barricades and fencing near the Town Hall polling location.
A separate Diwali festival in Round Rock prompted similar complaints about street closures, parking and access to the Baca Center early voting location.
Final barricades remained until 5:02 p.m.
The final barricades near Town Hall remained until 5:02 p.m., more than 10 hours after polls opened and less than two hours before they closed, Southlake City Councilmember Chuck Taggart wrote. He said he was briefly present at the final removal.
The street restrictions coincided with the only Saturday of early voting for the November 3 election. Taggart described closures on roads connecting to FM 1709 and put expected festival attendance at approximately 15,000 people.
The first reports of voting access concerns came at 7:46 a.m., according to Taggart’s timeline. Efforts to identify solutions were underway by 10 a.m., and barricade adjustments and removals continued between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., he wrote. By 4 p.m., organizers had decided to cancel the evening’s fireworks show.
“Someone arriving early in the day may have encountered substantially different conditions than someone arriving later, after corrective measures had been implemented,” Taggart wrote.
The city maintained in a Facebook statement that all Town Hall entrances remained open to voters “without interruption” from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. The same statement acknowledged street closures and said officials reopened the remaining closed streets adjacent to Rustin and Family Parks after a temporary restraining order concerning polling access.
Taggart also challenged the suggestion that short lines demonstrated a lack of access problems.
“But short voting lines do not necessarily mean voting access was unaffected. They can also reflect fewer people making it to the polling location,” he wrote.
“The issue is not whether the Festival of Lights should have been celebrated. The issue is whether the City adequately considered the impact of holding a major event at Town Hall during early voting,” Taggart wrote.
Taggart called for large-event permits affecting public streets, city facilities and public access to return to the City Council for periodic review. He questioned how officials overlooked the scheduling conflict with early voting.
County records confirm turnout decline
Southlake Town Hall recorded 1,444 voters Saturday, compared with 1,773 Friday, a decline of 329 voters, or 18.6%, Tarrant County’s report shows. Saturday produced the site’s lowest turnout of the first six days of early voting.
Countywide in-person turnout increased from 50,949 Friday to 51,080 Saturday, approximately 0.3%. The county recorded 298,746 in-person early voters through Saturday. Keller Town Hall’s count rose from 1,686 to 1,951, approximately 15.7%. Other nearby sites also recorded declines: Grapevine Public Library fell approximately 13.3%, and Colleyville Recreation Center Annex A fell approximately 13.4%.
Saturday offered three more voting hours than Friday. The county’s schedule lists October 23 hours as 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and October 24 hours as 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
“To be clear, these numbers alone cannot establish precisely how many voters were discouraged or prevented from voting because of the event. Other factors can influence daily turnout,” Taggart wrote.
“I respectfully but firmly disagree with anyone suggesting that the event had absolutely no impact on voting,” he added.
Round Rock volunteer describes confusion
In Round Rock, Williamson County, Christie Slape, a Moms for Liberty chapter leader who volunteered outside the Baca Center during the first week of early voting, described reduced parking and changes to the drive-up voting area.
“As a campaign volunteer outside the Baca Center polling location multiple days during the first week of early voting, I was very concerned on Saturday about the lack of accessibility to this voting location on the only Saturday of early voting. Side streets and a primary parking lot were closed, and even the ADA accessible drive-up voting location was moved to accommodate the Diwali festival,” Slape told The Dallas Express.
A worker told Slape the day before the festival that Round Rock’s Parks and Recreation Department had instructed him to collect campaign signs in Centennial Plaza and move them to a smaller area, she said. The worker told her the crew photographed the signs so workers could return them to their original locations Sunday.
“Several voters on Saturday expressed confusion and asked me to help them find the entrance to the polling location. After my volunteer shift, I entered the BACA Center to observe the voting line. There were no people inside waiting to vote. The halls were empty,” Slape said.
Mary Bone also posted photographs and comments about the Round Rock festival, parking restrictions and relocated campaign signs.
The Dallas Express requested comment from Southlake and Round Rock but had not received direct responses at the time of reporting. Southlake separately addressed the concerns in its public statement.
Early voting continues
Early voting continues through October 30 for the November 3 election. Voters may cast early ballots at any early voting location in their county of registration, as The Dallas Express previously reported.
Provided by Dallas Express
