Complaints roll in for newly-formed Tarrant County election integrity task force
FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) - An election integrity task force in Tarrant County is already looking at nearly a dozen complaints since it launched two weeks ago.
Sheriff Bill Waybourn revealed that two investigators from his office, two from the District Attorney's office and one prosecutor are handling election complaints as part of their regular case load. Five cases had been referred to the group in the last week, Waybourn said.
The new details came during an appearance in front of Tarrant County commissioners at their meeting Tuesday, after at least one member of the commission asked to be briefed on the effort.
While Waybourn and District Attorney Phil Sorrells have the support of county judge Tim O'Hare, who appeared at the announcement with them, Commissioners Alisa Simmons and Roy Charles Brooks were skeptical of the idea.
"I am concerned that we are enshrining in our Tarrant County infrastructure, the ability to deny the results of any election that the three of you take exception to," Brooks said.
He vowed to be a watchdog over the effort, and said he felt Sorrells now had a conflict of interest in providing any legal advice to him for that, because "it's a conspiracy."
Simmons pushed for more hard numbers from Waybourn to show the task force was necessary, asking if investigators "don't have anything else to do."
Waybourn, Sorrells and O'Hare started discussing the task force last fall, after the Court of Criminal Appeals determined the Texas Attorney General could not unilaterally prosecute election cases. Previously, Waybourn said his office had always referred complaints to the Attorney General.
Responding to criticism that the task force would look into larger election processes, he explained that the intent was to provide a resource for residents, who had nowhere else to take information of complaints.
"No one is declaring anything wrong with Tarrant County elections," he said.
New commissioner Manny Ramirez expressed support for the task force, saying he was pleased it wouldn't require additional funding, or take investigators away from other cases.
"This one is especially important, because the citizens need to know they can trust it," he said.
More than 60 people signed up to speak publicly to commissioners about the effort Tuesday, with nearly all of them expressing support for the plan.