Two Democrats expressed concerns about potential voter intimidation while one Republican threatened legal action over not being able to carry a handgun into the county courthouse.

Wood County commissioners heard the three during public comments last Tuesday, Feb. 6, but did not address or discuss the matters, which is standard protocol.

The Democrats were referring to a change in primary election procedures in Wood County this year with local Republicans opting to hold a separate primary on March 5.

In past years the two parties held joint elections, with Republicans providing the election judge and Democrats the alternate judge.

The parties will still be using the same facilities, which led Madeline Gibson to suggest the move sets up the potential for voter intimidation.

She offered an anecdote from a Winnsboro voting precinct when a Republican made what she called crude and insulting remarks about Democrats. She also referenced a poll worker who is afraid to work given what has happened in other areas.

She echoed the suggestion of Wood County Judge Kevin White from the recent county elections board meeting that any voter concerned about intimidation should take advantage of early voting or mail-in ballots, if eligible, “and not fall victim to this tactic to suppress votes.”

Gibson will be on the Democratic primary ballot as an unopposed candidate for county commissioner and will face the Republican winner in November.

Democratic Party Chair Judy Traylor expressed similar concerns as Gibson’s and added that she understood it was not a decision made by the commissioners.

In past elections when voting machines were used, all voters used one polling location and only had to reveal their party preference privately to the election workers, to receive the correct ballot.

Under the plan implemented for 2024, voters can be easily identified with a party based on which registration table they approach at the poll.

Traylor said she had heard from several voters about this concern.

“It is a real problem that effects more people than you perhaps realize,” she said. “We must protect everyone’s right to vote and respect everyone regardless of political beliefs.”

Commissioners approved several election matters during the meeting, including the separate lists of election judges and alternates offered by each party, the election notices for each party’s primary and the contracts with the county for election services, which include use of the county’s electronic poll books, ballot-marking machines for the paper ballots and scanners that will count the votes.

David Eishen, a Republican candidate for Precinct Three county commissioner, said he will file a complaint with the Texas Attorney General in three business days if his concern is not addressed about the “wrongful exclusion of handgun license holder” in the county courthouse.

He claimed the metal detector that courthouse visitors must go through is “used to exclude the carrying of weapons throughout the entire premises of the courthouse.”

Eishen pointed to state law which calls for fines for each day of violation and referenced cases in Waller and Brazos Counties from 2016.

He provided copies of some documents from those complaints. 

Later information from a 2022 ruling appears to show that Waller County appealed its case and continues to ban guns from the courthouse.

The state law calls for no handguns in court facilities.

Eishen argued that some of the offices in the courthouse are “not…essential to the operation of those courts.”

Some Texas counties have declared their entire courthouses to be courtrooms, citing difficulty in policing guns from being carried from one part of the courthouse where they are allowed to another where they are not.

Wood County does allow licensed handgun holders in the courthouse with permits and correct holstering, though not permitted in the two courts, county and district.