The Tarrant County Elections Office will continue contracting with a third-party data management company that since last summer has incorrectly identified more than 200 living voters as deceased.
County commissioners voted 3-1 Tuesday to renew for one year the contract with Florida-based Interactive Data LLC to help the elections office or are otherwise ineligible to vote. The $45,000 annual contract continues until July 2027 with the option to renew until 2028.
The commissioners court鈥檚 three Republicans 鈥� County Judge Tim O鈥橦are and commissioners Matt Krause and Manny Ramirez 鈥� voted in favor without commenting. Commissioner Alisa Simmons voted no, and Commissioner Roderick Miles was absent.
It鈥檚 unclear how many voters have been removed from the county鈥檚 voter roll 鈥� meaning they were unregistered to vote 鈥� since the contract began last summer.
The elections office identified as deceased asking them to verify within 30 days whether they are alive. Those who respond are kept on the voter roll, but those who do not respond are presumed deceased and purged.
Elections Administrator Clint Ludwig told commissioners that 214 voters who received such notices over the past year verified they were alive. His office asked for the contract with Interactive Data to be renewed because 鈥渢hey are pleased with the vendor,鈥� according to commissioners court meeting documents.
鈥淲e have 1.3 million voters, and 100% (accuracy) just isn鈥檛 achievable,鈥� Ludwig told commissioners.
Even before contracting with the company, the elections office had misidentified voters as deceased, Ludwig said Tuesday, adding that off the top of his head he didn't know how many.
Simmons, a Democrat for the county judge seat, said her colleagues should not have voted to extend the contract unless representatives from Interactive Data would publicly answer questions and assume accountability for the misidentified voters.
鈥淓lection integrity also means protecting eligible voters from being wrongly flagged, wrongly burdened or wrongly removed,鈥� Simmons said.
Tarrant County doesn鈥檛 need to pay Interactive Data to identify deceased voters, as the county clerk鈥檚 office maintains death records, Simmons argued.
The elections office uses data from the county clerk鈥檚 office, secretary of state and other government records to identify voters as deceased, Ludwig said. He framed the contract with Interactive Data as going 鈥渁bove and beyond鈥� to keep the county voter roll clean.
鈥淲e can do the bare minimum if that's what the court wishes, or if you approve, then I will go forth and use the data to get our voter rolls more clean,鈥� Ludwig told commissioners.
Ludwig took office in 2023, succeeding former Elections Administrator Heider Garcia who as county judge. Garcia said he was pressured politically by O鈥橦are, who made election integrity a focus of his campaign at the time and debuted an election integrity task force shortly after taking office.
Interactive Data promises its 鈥渁dvanced machine learning, cloud-native platform and massive data repository鈥� can . The company uses 鈥渁dvanced data analytics tools and technologies鈥� to help its clients 鈥渦ncover hidden connections, perform risk assessments and make informed decisions鈥� throughout their investigations, according to the contract.
State law requires that county elections offices keep accurate records of registered voters. When voters are identified as deceased, the county must send a 鈥渘otice of examination鈥� to the address on the voter鈥檚 registration record and any other known recent addresses, county elections office spokesperson Colby Erichsen told the Fort Worth Report via email.
Voters who haven鈥檛 updated their physical mailing address may be out of luck.
Because Texas does not require voters to register with an email address, there is no statewide system to electronically notify voters, Erichsen wrote.
If a notice of examination is returned to the elections office without a forwarding address, that voter will be removed from the voter roll, Ludwig said. However, he noted, voters who were wrongfully removed after being mistakenly identified as deceased will be able to cast a provisional ballot and get added back to the voter roll the next time they try to vote.
The county鈥檚 elections administration is committed to maintaining accurate voter rolls and protecting election integrity, Erichsen wrote via email. Voters may check their registration through or contact the elections office by calling 817鈥�831鈥�8683, he added.
鈥淣o eligible, living, registered voter will ever be prevented from voting in a Tarrant County election,鈥� Erichsen wrote. 鈥淥ur responsibility is to uphold the law, safeguard the election process, and ensure that every voter has the opportunity to make their voice heard.鈥�
Cecilia Lenzen is a government accountability reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact her at cecilia.lenzen@fortworthreport.org.
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