DALLAS COUNTY, Texas — The Dallas County Commissioners' Court got heated Tuesday morning during a presentation on the elections department by outgoing Dallas County Election Administrator Michael Scarpello, during which he and Commissioner John Wiley Price accused each other of dishonesty.
Scarpello told commissioners during the presentation about a number of improvements his department would be making ahead of the March election, including expanding phone banks, doubling the number of phones and developing a new tactical plan.
"This year, we've got a new electronic hardware dispatch system we just piloted this last election that went really well," Scarpello said.
Wiley disagreed that the election went well.
"You must be hallucinating," Wiley said. "I don't know where the hell you think you call -- that must have been an election in another universe. I was with this election and I didn't see that. So I'm trying to figure out what election are you talking about?"
Scarpello said the department now dispatches technicians and inspectors electronically, as opposed to previously using phones and sticky notes with the help of the Dallas County Sheriff's Department.
"Picture an Uber, and you see the little cars traveling around," Scarpello told Price.
"So you out there playing with cartoons?" Price responded.
Scarpello said his department tracks all of its technicians to see if they're on their routes and prioritize them to go to the most important issues on Election Day. Issues like running low on "I voted" stickers are considered low priority, he said.
"When you hear election judges come out, they didn't talk about no damn 'I voted,'" Price told him. "I'm talking about real issues."
Scarpello further said the Dallas County Elections Department is hoping to replace its help desk system, and said it wasn't a great product.
"You can't keep blaming that on IT," Price told him. "We got enough to blame on IT."
Price then accused Scarpello of compressing the number of technicians the department has, but Scarpello told him that wasn't true.
"There used to be about 24 techs -- that was it," Scarpello said. "Now, we have 24 techs and 46 inspectors. We have considerably increased our presence in the field. That's a fact."
"No, you didn't," Price said. "You did not."
"OK," Scarpello replied.
Scarpello's PowerPoint presentation soon began having technical issues on screen, which commissioners acknowledged.
"Technology can only take so many lies," Price said.
Scarpello said the department estimates the turnout for each vote center during the early voting period, and on Election Day.
"Is that the reason my people were standing in line for two to three hours?" Price asked.
"That's not true," Scarpello said.
Scarpello said the department determined equipment and staff allocations per location by examining estimated turnout and capacity of equipment and staff, and that they review final allocations with the political parties.
"But it didn't work," Price said. "We were on site!"
"Your staff was in those meetings with political parties where they reviewed those numbers," Scarpello told him. "They had plenty of chances to give their feedback."
"Feedback?" Price asked, exasperatedly. "We were on site with your voters, who were waiting for hours, who had three machines, who did not have sufficient personnel or equipment."
Price said the department's analytics didn't work as promised, and as a result, voters were left outside waiting in long lines while hoping to cast their ballots.
"This election wasn't even considered of any real consequence," Price said. "And you have not run an election since you've been here of really any consequence. You've jacked up everything you touched. Thank God you're gonna be gone for the March primary."
"You're welcome to your own opinion, but you're not welcome to your own facts," Scarpello told him.
Scarpello's presentation included statistics from the November 2023 election, which showed that Election Day turnout was 51% higher than projected. He said increased turnout was not detected early due to connectivity issues. Of the 455 vote centers that day, 61 were under projection and 394 were over projection. Of that 394, during the peak hour, 254 were below capacity and 140 were above capacity.
Of that 140, 15 performed above projected capacity throughout the day. And of that 15, 10 reported wait times of less than 10 minutes. And only five of those 15 requested additional staff and equipment, which Scarpello said was deployed as soon as possible.
Price told Scarpello he needed a new watch and accused him of sending people without experience.
"We were on site," Price said. "He's a liar. We were on site, and as a result, our people waited a lot longer than 28 minutes. They had three pieces of dad-gum equipment."
Scarpello said the vast majority of polling locations had no wait times.
Heider Garcia, a longtime election official who previously served in Tarrant County as elections commissioner, has been appointed in Dallas to replace Scarpello after his retirement. Garcia will begin in his role with Dallas County on Dec. 20.
