Elected leaders express support for outgoing Tarrant County elections administrator

Tarrant County elected officials expressed support Monday for outgoing elections administrator Heider Garcia.

Garcia resigned via a letter dated April 16 sent to County Judge Tim O’Hare and County Administrator G.K. Maenius. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram obtained the letter on Monday.

Garcia, who has been the election administrator since 2018, referenced a meeting with O’Hare and their different views about how to run elections as the reason for his departure.

“You made it clear in our last meeting that your formula is different, thus, my decision to leave,” Garcia wrote. “I wish you the best; Tarrant County deserves that you find success.”

In a statement Monday afternoon, O’Hare wrote: “As County Judge and Chair of the Tarrant County Election Commission, I want nothing more than quality, transparent elections in Tarrant County. Supporting the creation of an Election Integrity Task Force was all about quality, transparent elections. Mr. Garcia voluntarily resigned his position, and I wish him well in his future endeavors. I will be calling a meeting of the County Election Commission in the coming days to discuss the hiring of a new Elections Administrator.”

Tarrant County leaders have discussed in recent months ideas to look into voter fraud, despite audits that have failed to find issues.

Tarrant GOP chair Rick Barnes, who is running in the 2024 commissioners’ race, said it’s fair to ask why things are done a certain way, and if the answer is that’s how it’s always been done, it’s “not a fair answer.”

In a statement, Tarrant County Democratic Party chair Allison Campolo wrote she was “alarmed” about the circumstances that lead up to Garcia’s resignation.

“We condemn Judge Tim O’Hare and other members of the extremist Republican party for fostering an environment of misinformation and distrust in our electoral process such that a professional Elections Administrator can no longer facilitate voting in Tarrant County,” she wrote.

Campolo also wrote the party was concerned O’Hare would select an “election denier” to replace Garcia as elections administrator who would “remove transparency and disenfranchise voters.”

“We ask all Tarrant County voters to remain vigilant on whom Judge O’Hare is interested in for Tarrant County’s next elections administrator, and to make your voices heard at the Commissioners Court,” she wrote.

Commissioner Roy Brooks said Garcia was one of “the best elections administrators in the state of Texas.”

He said Garcia had routinely received praise for how he ran elections from both Republicans and Democrats.

“He runs good elections,” Brooks said. “He has been transparent as the elections administrator with both the commissioners’ court, the party chair and individual voters, even inviting them to come out and participate in mock elections using real voting machines so that people can get a feel for how the system works and they can follow the ballot they pass through the entire elections process.”

Brooks said he hoped O’Hare’s “hand-picked successor” would rise to the same performance levels Garcia had set in Tarrant County. Brooks also said he did not think Garcia’s resignation said more about O’Hare than it did Tarrant County elections.

Commissioner Gary Fickes told the Star-Telegram he thought Garcia did a “good job,” but was surprised Garcia stayed on as long as he did because “things got pretty rough on him.”

Fickes said there was a third group of people who thought Tarrant County’s elections weren’t being run properly before mentioning the Secretary of State’s office audit that came back clean.

“You got to give a lot of credit to the people who are running it, and that would be Heider, but he still was being attacked and that we, you know, we had something going on in our elections,” Fickes said. “There was something wrong with Tarrant County elections. I never could get anybody to show me what was wrong.”

Commissioner Alisa Simmons wrote on Twitter on Monday it was “unfortunate that a stellar county Elections Administrator, who has operated an office void of political interests, is forced to resign. This is what you get when you have commissioners court members playing political chess with our elections process.”

Simmons wrote in a separate Facebook post that “This highly regarded elections expert has more elections experience in his pinky finger than the Tarrant County judge who has repeatedly disrespected this man.”

Fort Worth City Secretary Fort Worth City Secretary Jannette Goodall wrote in a statement sent to the Star-Telegram that the county would continue to be a valued partner to the city and its municpal election process.

“I thank Elections Administrator Heider Garcia for his collaboration and association with previous elections,” she wrote. “Additionally, I have faith that the establishment of the strict protocols and procedures we have in place, lend well to safeguarding the integrity of our May 6 election, as well as future elections. I wish Heider well.”

Commissioners Manny Ramirez was not immediately available for comment.

The U.S. Department of Justice, which investigates and pursues violations of federal civil and criminal laws related to voting, declined to comment.