TARRANT COUNTY, Texas — Tarrant County election officials have responded to a WFAA inquiry about the legitimacy of an election worker who doesn't even live in its jurisdiction.
On Thursday, WFAA sent an email to officials after discovering Tarrant County Election Judge and GOP Precinct Chair Stacy Penney's official home address on file is actually in Ellis County -- at an address about 30 minutes southeast of Fort Worth.
The county's website states that in order to be eligible to be a poll worker an individual must be registered to vote in Tarrant County.
Tarrant County officials told WFAA in a statement that it received Penney's voter registration application from Ellis County in 2011. Officials said it was accepted because Penney's address lies in a range of addresses that are considered Tarrant County.
"This registration is valid for this Election. An Election Judge cannot be removed without the concurrence of the political party," the county said in a statement.
Despite Tarrant County having its own Integrity Unit in place and after consulting with Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson, officials tell WFAA there will not be any consequences for Penney prior to Election Day on Nov. 5.
WFAA has reached out to Penney for comment and has yet to hear back as of Thursday evening.
This is not the first time Tarrant County has faced issues about election integrity.
In April 2024, Mansfield ISD declared Dr. Angel Hidalgo ineligible to run for a seat on the school board, due to him not being a registered voter of Mansfield ISD by the filing deadline. However, he was able to remain on the May 4 ballot. School board president Courtney Lackey Wilson said Hidalgo stayed on the ballot because “the statutory deadline to remove an ineligible candidate from the ballot was February 24, 2024, and had already passed when the first ineligibility complaint was received on March 3, 2024.”
In 2016, Crystal Mason was convicted of illegal voting in Tarrant County after submitting a provisional ballot that was never counted while on supervised release for a 2012 tax fraud conviction. She was subsequently sentenced to five years in prison. But in March 2024, Texas’ Second Court of Appeals in Fort Worth overturned Mason's conviction. Then five months later, prosecutors in Tarrant County are seeking to overturn a lower court ruling that tossed out Mason's conviction. Lawyers for the ACLU say they’re hopeful the court will uphold her acquittal.
Read Tarrant County's full statement on the matter below:
It is the role of County Elections to review and verify residency as part of the voter registration process. Upon review of this address, Elections found that the registration application had been referred to Tarrant County in 2011 by Ellis County Elections, presumably because the address lies in a range of addresses that do reside in Tarrant County.
Tarrant County Elections has confirmed this specific residence is the only one on that street that lies wholly in Ellis County and consequently is moving to transfer this voter registration at this address from Tarrant County back to Ellis County. Elections has consulted with the Secretary of State and this registration cannot be transferred until after this Election. This registration is valid for this Election. An Election Judge cannot be removed without the concurrence of the political party.
