FORT WORTH, Texas — Tarrant County commissioners shared concerns over the resignation of the county’s elections administrator in their first meeting since he resigned Monday.
Heider Garcia had served as elections administrator since 2018 and was well-respected across the state. Garcia’s resignation letter thanks county administrator GK Maenius for his support and leadership.
At the end of the letter, Garcia addresses Republican County Judge Tim O’Hare saying, “my formula to ‘administer a quality transparent election’ stands on respect and zero politics; compromising on these values is not an option for me. You made it clear in our last meeting that your formula is different.”
Several commissioners pushed O’Hare over what happened in that meeting. Democrat County Commissioner Roy Brooks blamed O’Hare for Garcia stepping down.
“It was made to be broken. It was broken by the hand of you, judge,” Brooks said.
“Go ahead and explain how I broke it,” O’Hare quickly replied. “Explain to the public how I broke the system.”
O’Hare said he wasn’t sure legally what details he could share about the meeting with Garcia and that he wanted to keep their conversation private.
“I did not ask Heider to resign,” he said. “I did not put pressure on Heider to resign. I did not threaten to fire Heider. I did not threaten to bring him before the election commission for a review to determine if he would keep his employment.”
O’Hare indicated their conversation had to do with concerns both O’Hare and another member of the election commission had with Garcia.
“As the chair of the election commission, I was asked by a member of the election commission to approach Mr. Garcia and deliver a message which I did,” O’Hare said. “I have several issues that I brought up which as the county judge and as the chair of the election commission, I have every right in the world to do.”
Commissioners touted Garcia’s transparency. He allowed people with doubts about election systems to test voting machines in the county offices.
In 2020, former President Trump, who won Texas by a six-point margin, called for an audit of the state’s results. Within hours, Gov. Greg Abbott announced the state would conduct an audit. A final report released in December of 2022 said, “Tarrant County administers a quality, transparent election."
Commissioner Alisa Simmons said Garcia’s departure could fuel more doubts.
“We were not in the room, and I will be asking what the heck happened, but this is very concerning,” Simons said. “These are critical times. Many people are concerned about our election process and to lose a tenured, well-thought-of expert like Heider Garcia, it’s terrifying.”
Commissioner Manny Ramirez said he hopes a replacement is found quickly.
With early voting in the May 6 general election just a week away, Garcia said he plans to stay in his current role until June 23.