On the Ground in Fort Worth
March 4th, 2008 at 5:35 pm
The word in Tarrant County this afternoon is that turnout for the critical Texas Democratic primary has been steady but not overwhelming.
Both campaigns have identified the Dallas-Fort Worth area as an important battleground. The turnout at most polling locations is heavy — one voter in south Fort Worth reported seeing lines at his polling location for the first time ever — but nothing the precincts can’t handle. No lines around the block, at least not yet. Rumor has it that at least in one polling place in neighboring Denton County they ran out of ballots.
Art Brender, the Tarrant Co. Democratic Party chair, said few problems or violations have been reported — only minor infractions. (One example: One voter took the campaigns’ suggestion that you could “vote twice,” a reference to the primary and caucus combo, a little too literally and actually voted twice in the primary.)
Tarrant County experienced a record turnout in early voting — more than 87,000 people in the Democratic primary. Brender said another 80,000 people may vote today. At a polling location in South Fort Worth, workers were bracing for an after-work rush that may last through the caucus, which is supposed to begin at 7:15 p.m.
The state Democratic Party sent out a statement this afternoon about unconfirmed reports of campaign workers filling out fraudulent sign-in sheets in the Metroplex ahead of tonight’s caucus. This is not allowed, the party chided. The campaigns for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton then traded accusations over whose volunteers were actually doing this. The Obama campaign provided specifics. When queried for details, the Clinton campaign failed to respond.
