Tarrant County Ballot Board: Libertarians Cry Scheduling Bias, Board Approves Party-Submitted Lists

Tarrant County's fight over who counts its mail ballots is now a public record fight. At the county elections board meeting on Thursday, October 29, public commenters from the Libertarian Party accused the Early Voting Ballot Board of excluding their appointees and asked the board to follow Secretary of State guidance and the Texas Election Code. Sean Sparkman, who identified himself as chair of the Tarrant County Libertarian Party, told the board in public comment that members had been discriminated against for past political activity and for their current litigation status - his allegation, made on the record at the meeting.

The numbers behind the complaint come from the Fort Worth Report's account of the board's early-voting work, carried by Dallas Patriot: the 27-member mail-ballot board was appointed nine members each from the Republican, Democratic and Libertarian parties, but over early voting the members actually scheduled were nine Republicans, seven Democrats and two Libertarians. The Libertarian Party planned to seek a writ of mandamus over the scheduling, and the election board added 20 members - 14 Republicans, three Democrats and three Libertarians. Elections Administrator Clint Ludwig has said the scheduling is lawful. Tarrant County had received 20,482 mail ballots as of October 30.

What changed on Thursday is the ending, for now: after a brief statutory clarification, the board approved the party-submitted lists as attached, according to the meeting report. That does not settle the underlying argument about how the original scheduling was done - the Libertarians' discrimination claim and the administrator's lawfulness position both stand as stated - but it means the lists the parties themselves submitted are the ones the ballot board will work from as Election Day, Tuesday, November 3, approaches.