Dallas County Democrats had grand hopes for this election.
Though it’s the middle of a presidential term, when Republicans typically do better, Democrats were banking on a robust voter turnout for several reasons — most notably the gubernatorial campaign of Wendy Davis.
The state senator from Fort Worth hoped to increase the Democratic share of the vote here from the 55 percent achieved by Bill White in 2010 to at least 58 percent. Though she may still hit that, the raw total of votes will be far from what she needs to have a chance against Republican Greg Abbott.
Early voting in Dallas County dipped by 5 percent from the 2010 total, Elections Administrator Toni Pippins-Poole said Monday. Now, Democrats aren’t as confident of local victories as they otherwise might be. Some close county contests could be decided by a slew of “unknown” voters the parties aren’t familiar with. They generally come from Republican areas but could have been brought to the process by Davis.
Democrats have unleashed a furious voter-contact program led by the political arm of the Texas Organizing Project, with part of that money coming from Davis.
But for this election cycle, Democrats have been beset by disunity, bickering and coasting by the party’s well-known candidates.
Though they don’t talk about it publicly, the local party has never been on the same page with Battleground Texas, the group of former Barack Obama field organizers charged with the task of making Texas competitive.
The group forged its own path and was instrumental in boosting Democratic statehouse candidates like Leigh Bailey in House District 108, Carol Donovan in House District 107 and Susan Motley in House District 105. And, of course, its main objective is to get Davis elected governor.
Democrats grumble that the local party was left with the challenge of turning out base voters even though it had far less money for voter turnout than it did in 2010. They complain that Battleground Texas did not share all of its data on voters with the local Democratic Party.
Such information is useful in targeting voters with messages they’re likely to respond to, determining who’s most likely to support Democratic candidates and helping get them to the polls. Local party officials and Battleground leaders could not reach a compromise this summer to share the information, people with knowledge of their meetings say.
As a result, these people say, for most of the campaign, Battleground Texas and the Dallas County Democratic Party worked separately and without direct coordination.
“They had a different objective. It was to get Wendy Davis elected,” said Dallas County Democratic Party chairwoman Darlene Ewing. “My objective is to get all our countywides elected. In a perfect world, we all should have worked better together, but that didn’t happen.”
Battleground Texas spokeswoman Erica Sackin denied that the group withheld anything.
“We’ve been incredibly proud of how much we’ve been working together and how much we’ve been able to achieve,” she said.
Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins chose to link with Battleground Texas and others instead of local party officials, who he said ultimately decided against an alliance.
“We offered to share data, but they decided to go their own way,” said Jenkins, who is part of an alliance with Davis, Battleground Texas, the Texas Organizing Project, Planned Parenthood’s political committee and Annie’s List, a group that promotes female Democratic hopefuls.
Jenkins was one of just two major candidates who didn’t provide money to the local party. He says that in the final days of the campaign he gave $20,000 for a program spearheaded by the Texas Organizing Project to knock on the doors of 60,000 voters.
Other factors have resulted in a lighter-than-expected Democratic voter turnout.
District Attorney Craig Watkins has not come close to running the campaign he did in 2010. He’s been dramatically outspent by Republican Susan Hawk and doesn’t have the resources to mount a comprehensive voter turnout program.
In the past, Democrats relied on Watkins to reach voters in the black precincts of southern Dallas, where he’s a hero.
But the state’s first elected black DA does not have the presence he had in 2010.
Jenkins is sitting on more than $350,000 in cash, according to financial disclosure reports. About $150,000 of that is from a personal loan.
According to financial disclosure reports, he has kept most of that money and expects to beat his Republican challenger, Ron Natinsky.
Jenkins has been in the news all summer, first for his plan to use Dallas County facilities to house immigrant children who crossed the southern border alone and then when Dallas saw the first Ebola case to be diagnosed in the United States.
In what’s more of a marketing strategy than a real campaign, Jenkins has been using media attention from those episodes to help defeat Natinsky.
Meanwhile, Republicans have been more unified and more passionate about the election.
In Hawk they see an opportunity to wrestle the DA’s office from Watkins, who in 2010 was re-elected by just over 5,000 votes.
It’s important to note that several big-name Democrats have been running campaigns to turn out the Democratic vote in Dallas County, including U.S. Reps. Eddie Bernice Johnson of Dallas and Marc Veasey of Fort Worth, state Sen. Royce West of Dallas and several state House members.
Whatever happens Tuesday, Democrats could see plenty of finger-poinitng about coordination. If they’re going to make progress in future campaigns, they know they need a bigger turnout in Dallas County and other urban areas across the state.
It’s hard for that to happen if the stakeholders aren’t all on the same page.
Follow Gromer Jeffers Jr. on Twitter at @gromerjeffers.
Tips for voting in Tuesday’s Texas elections
Take your photo ID because the state law, though disputed, is still in effect.
ON THE BALLOT
Statewide offices: Voters will choose a new governor and lieutenant governor and will fill several other statewide executive and judicial offices. Also up: several seats on the State Board of Education.
Congress: One U.S. Senate seat and all 36 of the state’s U.S. House districts.
Legislature: Each of the 150 Texas House seats is up for election, along with half of the state Senate.
County: District attorneys, county judges and commissioners, constables and criminal and civil judges are up for election.
Local: Dallas has several city propositions, while others will vote on alcohol sales rules. Several school districts have bond proposals.
IN THE KNOW
Registration: You must be registered, and the deadline has passed.
Time: Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday.
Valid IDs: The state’s law requiring voters to show photo identification is the subject of a court challenge, but for this election, it’s in effect. So you must take one of the following IDs with you to the polls: a Texas driver’s license, a U.S. passport, a state-issued ID card, a state-issued election certificate, a Texas concealed handgun license, a U.S. military ID or a citizenship certificate with a photograph issued by the federal government. With the exception of the citizenship certificate, none of the forms of identification may be expired for more than 60 days.
Verification: An election judge must compare the name on the ID card to the voter registration card or the computerized voter roll maintained at the precinct. If the names don’t match, the election judge can declare them “substantially similar” if the difference is slight; the name is a customary variation, such as a shortened name; or if the name is the same but listed in a different order (such as Mary Jones vs. Mary Jones Smith).
The election judge will also verify the voter’s address before providing a ballot. The voter may have to sign an affidavit confirming his or her identity; the process is quick, but if enough voters have ID issues, delays are possible. In Dallas and some other counties, voters can opt to have their name changed in the registration database to match their ID to avoid future problems.
Provisional voting: Officials urge voters to cast a ballot even if they have ID issues. The ballot would be considered provisional until the voter can obtain an ID and present it to the county voting office within six days. If the voter doesn’t meet the deadline, the ballot is not counted.
Printed material: You may bring notes or other materials with you. But you can’t distribute them or share them with other voters at the polling site.
Sample ballots
Dallas: dallascountyvotes.org
Collin: co.collin.tx.us
Denton: votedenton.com
Tarrant: tarrantcounty.com/evote
Rockwall: rockwall-tx.connect4.clarityelections.com
From staff and wire reports
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