TRAVIS COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) — The Texas Third Court of Appeals denied an emergency motion filed by the Travis County Republican Party this week that asked the court to order the County Clerk to replace election officials at polling sites, alleging there was an imbalance of Democrat and Republican poll workers.
The Chair of the TCRP announced today it appealed the decision to the Texas Supreme Court. The party originally filed a formal complaint to the Office of the Attorney General and the Secretary of State last week, according to a news release.
The TCRP filed the emergency petition on Wednesday and requested quick action from the court because of the election. A response from the Third Court of Appeals came a day later and said the “motion for expedited relief is dismissed as moot,” according to a court documents.
“The ‘mootness’ reason cited by the 3rd Court of Appeals can reasonably apply to Early Voting which ends today, but it cannot reasonably apply to Election Day, which is Tuesday,” Matt Mackowiak, the Chair of the TCRP, said in a statement on Friday. “As long as I am TCRP chair, we will hold local government accountable when they violate our rights and risk election integrity. This is an egregious example, and we look forward to having our day in court.”
The Travis County Clerk’s Office was pleased with the court’s decision. In a statement to KXAN, the office said, “This sends a strong message to our staff and election workers that their hard work is valued. We take all allegations of this nature seriously but are not distracted from administering an open and accessible election for all eligible voters. We appreciate the continued dedication of the team of bipartisan election workers and their ongoing commitment to serving Travis County.”
In a news release earlier this week, the TCRP alleged nearly a quarter of polling sites in the county do not have any Republican alternate judges and half of the sites do not have any Republican polling workers for the morning or evening shifts.
“It is totally unacceptable that large portions of our country have no Republican election judges assigned, despite our providing far more than the number of available workers needed,” Mackowiak said in Friday’s release.
The release also said the TCRP sent the County Clerk’s Office a list of 900 names of qualified Republican volunteers in June. The party alleged only 72 Republicans were selected for the 306 total clerk positions.