Former Tarrant County Elections Administrator Heider Garcia is headed east to become the next top elections official in Dallas County.
The Dallas County Elections Commission said Wednesday that Garcia will begin working as the county's elections administrator on Dec. 20 following the retirement of the current administrator, Michael Scarpello.
"I am honored by the decision of the Dallas County Elections Commission to offer me the position of elections administrator. I will be very humble in my new role and work really hard to follow in Michael's footsteps. Dallas County deserves the best and I intend to work with that goal in mind," said Garcia.
Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins, who chairs the county's five-member election commission, said they were considering two preferred candidates and chose Garcia because of his "proven track record of running excellent elections."
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"Elected officials of both parties and former Texas secretaries of state praise Heider for his thoroughness, fairness, and leadership abilities," Jenkins said.
Until June of this year, Garcia was the elections administrator in Tarrant County. He announced in April he was resigning from his post in a letter he sent to Tarrant County Judge Tim O'Hare and then-County Administrator GK Maenius who has since retired.
In the letter, Garcia thanked Maenius for his leadership and support while saying his decision to exit was driven by a difference of opinion with the county judge on how to conduct an election.
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“Judge O’Hare, my formula to ‘a quality transparent election’ stands on respect and zero politics; compromising on these values is not an option for me. You made it clear in our last meeting that your formula is different, thus my decision to leave,” Garcia wrote.
O'Hare told NBC 5 in April that he never asked Garcia to resign or threatened to fire him. He said Garcia made the decision to leave on his own.
Coming from Tarrant County, Garcia has years of experience leading large-scale elections and working with elections technology. Before spending five years in Tarrant County, he was the elections manager in Placer County, California for two years. Since leaving Tarrant County in the spring, Garcia has been working as a senior election subject matter expert for the U.S. Election Assistance Commission.
In June, Tarrant County's election commission voted unanimously to appoint Chief Deputy Clerk Clinton Ludwig as the next elections administrator. Prior to his appointment, Ludwig had no direct elections experience.
The Dallas County Elections Commission is made up of Clay Jenkins, County Clerk John Warren, County Tax Assessor/Collector John Ames, Secretary and Democratic Party Chair Kardal Coleman and Republican Party Chair Jennifer Stoddard Hajdu.
The next election is Tuesday, Nov. 7. Early voting begins Monday, Oct. 23 and ends Friday, Nov. 3.
