Dallas County Republicans will ditch electronic voting machines for paper ballots and hand-counting in their March 2026 primary election.
The GOP will also offer 100 fewer polling locations on Election Day as it splits from the traditional joint primary with Democrats. The shift marks a significant departure from modern voting practices in Texas’ second-largest county.
GOP Chair Allen West framed the move as an experiment in electoral innovation.
“I think when you consider Albert Einstein, when he said the pure definition of insanity is to continue to do the exact same thing and think you’re going to get different results. And so why would we not want to look at some other course of action? And that’s what we came up with. To say, let’s go back and see,” West said, Fox 4 KDFW reported.
The change will only affect Election Day voting. Early voting remains under county control and will continue using electronic systems.
While West didn’t allege fraud, he cited technical failures with electronic voting. An electronic pollbook error led to thousands of Dallas County voters receiving incorrect ballots during the 2024 presidential election.
“Well, it’s not just the Dallas County GOP. I think that all voters in Dallas County should be very concerned with some of the failures and flaws and the shortcomings they’ve seen in the electronic voting system that we have here,” West said, per Fox 4.
The hand-counting process will likely slow results, but West dismissed concerns.
“When you look around and you see people that are still taking in results from elections a week after the election is over, I don’t see what people are concerned about. And first of all, I fear God and I dread not,” he said, according to Fox 4.
Dallas County Elections Administrator Paul Adams confirmed the plan is legal under Texas law. However, he noted his office has less than 80 days to prepare for essentially running two separate elections simultaneously.
“We have a lot to prepare for because we are basically running two separate elections at the same time,” Adams said.
He urged both parties to sign their primary contracts by Saturday.
Dallas County will become the largest jurisdiction in America to hand-count ballots on Election Day. The move follows Collin County’s switch to full paper ballots in November, which some blamed for creating long lines and delays.
West defended the Republican Party’s right to conduct its primary as it sees fit.
“We are providing an alternative for people to look at and people to study. And hopefully there will not be people that try to create obstacles to this happening because we’re doing everything according to Texas election code and law.”
