What brought down one Texas county’s entire elections department? It was something in the water.
Aggrieved anti-fluoride activists, low pay and an understaffed office eventually drove away all of Gillespie County’s election staff. Full Story
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Natalia Contreras covers election administration and voting access for Votebeat in partnership with The Texas Tribune. She has covered a range of topics as a community journalist including local government, public safety, immigration and social issues. Natalia previously reported for the Austin American-Statesman, focusing on impacts of government policies on communities of color. Natalia previously worked at the Indianapolis Star, where she helped launch the first Spanish-language newsletter, and at the Corpus Christi Caller-Times. She was born in Tampico, Tamaulipas in Mexico and grew up in Corpus Christi, Texas. She is based in Austin.
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![The Gillespie County Court House in Fredericksburg on Aug. 15, 2022.]()
Credit: Eddie Gaspar/The Texas Tribune -
Tarrant County conservatives push questions about Texas election integrity
After “seeking God’s guidance,” the group has engaged in yearlong campaign chasing evidence, lobbying government, and harassing an election official, with little to show for it. Full Story
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![Elections Administrator Heider Garcia goes through boxes of ballots from the 2020 GOP primary elections that will be recounted by an election integrity group at the Tarrant County Elections Administration building in Fort Worth, TX on July 22, 2022. Ballots become public records after 22 months, granting this group access to review the votes from this election, and eventually, the general.]()
Credit: Shelby Tauber for The Texas Tribune -
Right-wing group is quietly conducting review of 300,000 Tarrant County ballots from 2020 primary
The March ballots are public records under Texas law, but the Tarrant review may just be a warmup for endlessly disputed elections. Full Story
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![Election Administrator Heider Garcia goes through boxes of ballots from the 2020 GOP primary elections that will be recounted by an election integrity group at the Tarrant County Elections Administration building in Fort Worth on July 22, 2022. Ballots become public records after 22 months, granting this group access to review the votes from this election, and eventually, the general.]()
Credit: Shelby Tauber for The Texas Tribune