What brought down one Texas county’s entire elections department? It was something in the water – By Natalia Contreras, Votebeat & The Texas Tribune (Texas Tribune) / Aug 29, 2022
Aggrieved anti-fluoride activists, low pay and an understaffed office eventually drove away all of Gillespie County’s election staff.
Editor’s note: This story contains explicit language.
This coverage is made possible through Votebeat, a nonpartisan news organization covering local election administration and voting access. The article is available for reprint under the terms of Votebeat’s republishing policy.
FREDERICKSBURG — Last November’s sleepy constitutional amendment election nearly came to blows in Gillespie County, a Central Texas county known for its vineyards. A volunteer poll watcher, whose aggressive behavior had rankled election workers all day, attempted to force his way into a secure ballot vault.
The burly man was repeatedly blocked by a county elections staffer. Shouting ensued. “You can’t go in there,” the staffer, Terry Hamilton, insisted to the man, who towered over Hamilton. “We can see anything we want!” the poll watcher and his fellow election integrity activists yelled, according to an election worker who witnessed the scene. They accused Hamilton and elections administrator Anissa Herrera of a variety of violations of the state election code, which they quoted line by line.
“Oh Lord, they can cite chapter and verse,” recalled Sue Bentch, a Fredericksburg election judge who saw the confrontation that night. “But you know, just as the devil can cite scripture for its own purposes, it seemed to me that it was often cited out of context and misinterpreted.”
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