Crockett tells supporters at watch party she won’t be returning to speak after confusion at polls

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(4 Mar 2026) RESTRICTION SUMMARY: ++SOUNDBITES SEPARATED BY BLACK FRAMES++ ++EDIT BEGINS AND ENDS ON SOUNDBITE++ ASSOCIATED PRESS Dallas - 03 March 2026 1. SOUNDBITE (English) Rep. Jasmine Crockett, (D) Texas: "So I just want to be clear. There's a lot that took place specifically in Dallas County. I'm sure you've been watching the returns, and none of the returns out of Dallas County are quite in yet. Dallas County should have the second largest voter participation of any county in this state. We don't have any other results, because there was a lot of confusion today. Um, and so, you know, our Democratic Party chair, Kardal Coleman, he beat me to the punch as myself and Colin Allred - we're about to file a lawsuit to keep the voting polls open. We were able to keep the polls open, but I can tell you now that people have been disenfranchised. The reason that we knew that there were problems is because we were receiving the phone calls and the emails. The polls were supposed to stay open until 9 (Central Standard Time), according to a court order. The Supreme Court, just a few minutes ago, just said, shut it down. The Supreme court also said that they to separate any votes out, that came in after 7 p.m. So here's the deal. I have no idea how it is the clerks are going to know who was in line by what time, because the rule is that if you're in line by 7, then you get to vote. And so once there was a court order saying you had until 9, I'm sure that there were people that joined the line after 7. They now are telling them that you have to separate the votes out. What this means is that we will not know what votes are to be tallied from election day out of Dallas County. For sure, we won't know that tonight. So, knowing that Dallas County is a big dump of votes um we in my opinion will not know the election results overall tonight." ++BLACK FRAMES++ 2. SOUNDBITE (English) Rep. Jasmine Crockett, (D) Texas: "And so they specifically targeted Dallas County and i think we all know why. So, I want you to enjoy yourselves but I won't be back tonight because I have no idea of when we're gonna get results and I fully anticipate it won't until tomorrow." ++EDIT ENDS ON SOUNDBITE++ STORYLINE: A rule change for primary voting in two Texas counties created mass confusion Tuesday that eventually led to a state Supreme Court ruling, threats of more legal action and the potential that an untold number of voters could find themselves disenfranchised. The chaos had the most direct potential impact on the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate. The county with the greatest number of affected voters includes Dallas and is the home base for Rep. Jasmine Crockett, an outspoken critic of President Donald Trump who was in a tight race with state lawmaker James Talarico. Crockett told supporters Tuesday night that the race can’t be settled without the results from Dallas County. “I can tell you, people were disenfranchised,” she said. The unfolding chaos — first over the new voting rules, and then over the court decisions and whether late ballots would be counted — stemmed from a change by local Republicans that is unique to Texas' primary system, but also hinted at the type of uncertainty that many have feared lies ahead for November's midterm elections. In Dallas County, a judge ordered polls to remain open for two hours past the scheduled 7 p.m. closing time, citing “voter confusion so severe” that it caused the website of the county election office to crash. The judge was acting on a petition filed by the local Democratic Party in a heavily left-leaning county. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives ​​ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/ You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/d8e626e9e11f4b3c813038778a51b834