Like many across Dallas Tuesday morning, local Republican Party chairwoman Jennifer Stoddard-Hajdu woke up to a power outage in her home. The attorney soon discovered her office was without power, too, after severe weather in the area had knocked out power for thousands of people.
It was Election Day for the 2024 primary runoff elections. About 9 a.m., Stoddard-Hajdu got a call from the Dallas County Elections Department informing her more than 100 polling locations — more than a third of those in the county — were without electricity or internet, or both, she said.
Voting locations were scheduled to close at 7 p.m. That just wasn’t enough time to get polling locations back online and to allow people, many of whom were struggling with the aftermath of the storm, to get to the polls, Stoddard-Hajdu thought.
“We wanted everybody to have a chance to vote,” she said.
Her counterparts in the Dallas County Democratic Party were having the same thoughts. Kardal Coleman, the local Democratic Party chair, called attorney Robert Tobey for help. By noon, the two parties, often on opposite sides of government-related issues, were on a call together working on a proposed order granting an emergency motion to extend polling hours. They were also joined by the civil section of the Dallas County district attorney’s office. The DA’s office declined to comment, citing attorney-client privilege.
“That was very fortunate, candidly,” Tobey said, explaining that if there had been disagreement one side would have to apply for an injunction, which legally requires the setting of a bond. That route would have taken much longer, and the parties were already racing against the clock, he said.
Tobey anxiously tapped his pen against his legal pad in the afternoon waiting for the necessary signatures so he could take the draft order to a judge.
Sometime in the hustle and bustle, the parties learned Dallas County Sheriff Marian Brown, an incumbent facing a runoff with her predecessor, had hired the law firm Carter Arnett to represent her in the same effort to extend voting hours. Lawyers with the firm did not respond to a request for comment.
Brown’s petition was filed first in the 116th District Court, but her team wasn’t able to contact the judge, Tonya Parker, Tobey said. He had her cell phone number and was able to reach her, but she was out of state. She suggested Tobey call 14th District Judge Eric Moyé. Moyé was available.
Tobey arrived at Moyé’s courtroom about 4:30 p.m. Tobey didn’t even have a case number yet, and his legal assistant was trying to file while Moyé heard the request. Moyé consolidated Tobey’s and Brown’s cases and signed the order, extending polling hours to 9 p.m.
“It was a good moment,” Tobey said. “I was happy to sign my name on the same petition where (Stoddard-Hajdu) was on there.”
His firm partner, Chad Baruch, mused at the unity on Facebook.
“In a time where we see a lot of division, it was encouraging to see everyone working together to ensure Dallas county citizens their right to vote,” Baruch wrote.
Constant fighting between political parties is unproductive, Stoddard-Hajdu said.
“I think we should work together more frequently, especially on issues where there really isn’t a divide” like this one, Stoddard Hajdu said.