Blog Article
Is the Dallas County Republican Party Hand Counting Paper Ballots in the 2026 Republican Primary?
It is a fair question, considering that hand counting paper ballots the Republican Primary is the platform that current Chair Allen West ran on in the 2024 Republican Primary. Yet, since his election, we have not heard one word from him about hand counting paper ballots. It is the Party’s choice to hand count its own Primary. We are a little less than a year away from the 2026 Primary, and I have not seen a plan or a resolution to hand count paper ballots in the Primary. Have you? The Republican Precinct Chairs I have spoken to report that they have not seen a plan or a resolution. I do find it interesting that many of the Republican activists find plenty of time to champion resolutions condemning our own Dallas County Republican legislators, but no time to present their plan to do the one thing they claimed was their number one priority in 2024.
So, where is the plan? Where are the hand counters? Where is the necessary equipment? Surely the Party has started planning. The last Federal Ethics Commission Report shows that the Dallas County Republican Party has raised quite a bit of money. In fact, at the writing of this blog, the Party shows to have nearly $200,000.00 in the bank. However, there is no indication in the Report or in the Party’s behavior that the Party has spent any money on candidate support. So, one can only assume the Party is saving the money for a hand counted 2026 Primary. And, the Party’s biggest fundraiser of the year is just one week away. If its fundraiser nets anything close to the $450,000.00 the Party netted on its 2023 Reagan Day fundraiser I chaired, the Party will have enough money to hand count the 2026 Primary. While I have not yet seen a plan that has made me a proponent of a hand counted Primary in a County as large as Dallas, I have been assured that there is one. I eagerly await the plan’s unveiling. With almost a year to go, there is plenty of time for Party leadership and the many others who are certain that hand counting can be easily done to plan and implement a hand counted Primary. I am anxiously waiting.
