Change in primary voting rules leads to confusion in 2 Texas counties as voters are turned away

Voters in two major Texas counties were turned away at polling locations and directed to different precincts Tuesday, after a recent change in how the primary is conducted created confusion and frustration.

In Dallas County, a judge ordered polls to remain open for two hours past the scheduled 7 p.m. closing time, citing “voter confusion so severe” that it caused the website of the county election office to crash. The judge was acting on a petition filed by the local Democratic Party in a heavily left-leaning county.

In Dallas and Williamson counties, voters had been allowed to cast their ballot anywhere in their county for years. But for this primary, the local Republican parties opted against countywide voting. State law says both major parties have to agree to the countywide system for it to be in effect.

That meant that on Tuesday all voters in the two counties could cast ballots only at their assigned precinct.

The campaigns of the two Democrats running in the party primary for U.S. Senate denounced the effect of the change on voters and called for the poll hours to be extended.

“Both Dallas and Williamson county voters have grown accustomed to countywide voting, including on election day,” U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett ‘s campaign said. “This effort to suppress the vote, to confuse and inconvenience voters, is havin...