Party upset its poll judge removed

Barron

Bill Fairbrother, chairman of the Williamson County Republican Party, said the party issued the resolution Nov. 27 because of the “events in Jarrell” and because on election day Barron had Republican election judge John Gordon removed from a polling place.

Fairbrother said he couldn’t comment on the Jarrell election because of pending litigation by Rusty Bryson, a candidate for the Jarrell school board.

Bryson lost her election by three votes to incumbent Tookie Mullen; the suit asks a judge to order a new election. The lawsuit alleges that anywhere from 20 to 200 people received the wrong ballots on Nov. 6.

Barron has previously said that election judges were trained but still gave about 20 people the wrong ballots in Jarrell.

Fairbrother also said Barron should not have removed Gordon. “The election code doesn’t give the election administrator that authority,” he said.

Barron has said that a county employee sent to check on voting machines notified him that Gordon yelled at her in front of voters. Barron said he couldn’t reach Fairbrother that day so he decided to remove Gordon himself with the help of deputies from the Williamson County sheriff’s office. Gordon has said that he didn’t yell at the employee.

Karen Carter, the chair of the Williamson County Democratic Party and a member of the election commission, said Wednesday that she “didn’t know why they (the Republicans) would have an issue with Rick.”

“The training that has occurred has gotten better under Rick and the materials and training sessions have gotten better.”