A total of 68 polling centers may be temporarily closed across Dallas County during two upcoming elections due to what the Dallas County Elections Department called “a tremendous labor shortage.”
The department requested 68 of the county’s 469 polling centers be temporarily closed during a constitutional amendment and joint election May 7 as well as during the primary runoff election on May 24. Elections Administrator Michael Scarpello made the case for the closures to the Dallas County Commissioners Court during its April 5 meeting.
“We have two upcoming countywide May elections, and we’re very concerned about recruiting poll workers for those elections,” Scarpello said. “We’re concerned because there’s a general shortage of labor in every industry; we’re concerned because of the large number of polling places.”
Scarpello said he and department staff had outlined a criteria for selecting which polling centers to temporarily close, such as the proximity to other polling centers and past voter turnout rates. Additionally, Scarpello said he worked with leaders of both the Republican and Democratic parties of Dallas County in selecting the polling centers.
