Palo Pinto County mulling 'electioneering' regulation after raucous primary crowds at MW Annex

Mar. 28—PALO PINTO — County commissioners are mulling a set of electioneering regulations after candidate supporters created commotion at the Mineral Wells Annex on voting day.

A draft order the officials took home from Monday's meeting looks to limit where people can gather outside the 100-foot perimeter from polls.

"The last day of elections at the county annex was a little bit exciting in the parking lot," County Judge Shane Long said. "There was electioneering, and the entire parking lot was full of people electioneering."

Electioneering is broadly defined as aggressive campaigning for a candidate or cause. It can drift into misdemeanor criminal territory, as Attorney General Ken Paxton accused Aledo ISD of doing in urging voters to oppose pro-voucher candidates.

In Mineral Wells' case on March 5, it took the form of raucous enthusiasm for Texas House opponents Glenn Rogers and Mike Olcott, with voters inside complaining once they'd run the gauntlet of campaigners.

"No one was in violation of any of our ordinances," Long said. "It wasn't just one group doing it. It was everybody ... people campaigning for Olcott or campaigning for Glenn Rogers in the parking lot. I think there was a difference in the approach that each one was doing."

Long said two law firms have reached out to him about the election day scene — one with an open records request for security video of the scene, the other pointing out an Elections Code clause allowing "reasonable regulation" of electioneering outside the 100-foot barrier.

Turnout was decent at the annex polling site. Elections Administrator Laura Watkins reported 809 cast election day ballots there, an increase from the 2020 primaries.

Campaigns generally know and abide by Election Code laws forbidding stumping for issues or candidates within 100 feet of the door to the polls. Voters are not allowed to pass out literature inside that barrier, or even wear political T-shirts when they go vote.

"We cannot prohibit electioneering outside the 100-foot mark," the judge said, before citing the Texas Election Code and the Secretary of State's office saying counties are allowed to enact "reasonable regulations" on the "time, place and manner" of electioneering outside the 100-foot mark.

Such rules would apply only to polls in places the county owns, so not churches, schools or other polling sites. Long later said owners of those venues would have to police their own parking lots beyond the 100-foot barrier.

But the Mineral Wells annex is fair game for the court.

Long asked commissioners to consider a ban on electioneering on the parking lot pavement. He said the Election Code includes keeping driveways clear among "reasonable regulations" outside the 100 feet.

He held an aerial photo of the annex as he spoke and pointed to the entries of rows of parking spots separated by long, grassy strips.

"So, the regulation would be, no electioneering in the driveways or the sidewalks," he said. "It would be limited to the green space, which means the grassy area."

He added those will apply 30 minutes before and after polls close.

It also will apply to how many political signs supporters can mount in the ground, though not the hand-carried variety.

Also Monday, no one spoke at a public hearing on whether to drop Guydis Lane from the county road inventory. This came at the request of residents of the road northwest of Mingus.

The court followed the hearing by approving the abandonment.

A biweekly report from the county's information technology consultant said 26,000 of 71,000 inbound emails in February had been flagged as a "potential threat."

Michael Vaughn, with Computer Transition Services, said the bulk of those had been identified as spam. Only two were identified as actual threats, which Vaughn said had been eliminated.

Public Works Director David McDonald, in his regular report, said he issued 15 septic system permits last month, 13 of them for new construction.

"We're about three behind where we were last year," he said, later adding a new RV park has moved onto land at Interstate 20 and U.S. 281.

"I said, 'Get water. Make sure you get water,'" McDonald said.

The court on Monday also recognized members of the county's CASA, child welfare board and Children's Alliance Center while approving a resolution declaring April as Child Abuse Awareness and Prevention Month.

The resolution states that one in four girls and one in six boys report sexual abuse before their 18th birthday. One in five also experience online solicitations from predators, it says.