The Dallas County sheriff’s office is reviewing a complaint from an election worker who alleges Commissioner John Wiley Price assaulted her while ordering her to leave a voting center before Saturday’s municipal election.
Cynthia Stairs, 63, said she filed a report with police Monday alleging Price knocked her phone from her hand, ordered her out of the precinct and blocked her from returning to her alternate election judge duties.
Dallas Police spokesperson Corbin Rubinson confirmed the department took a report from a complainant about an incident at the precinct.
Because polling locations fall under the authority of the sheriff’s office, Rubinson said the department forwarded all information to the county.
The sheriff’s office began “conducting a review” on Monday about the incident involving Price as the law enforcement agency with jurisdiction over election security, said spokesperson Douglas Sisk.
Price, 75, who has represented District 3 for 40 years, did not respond to a phone call, two text messages or an email to him and his staff requesting comment.
In an interview with The Dallas Morning News, Stairs said she arrived at Friendship-West Baptist Church for her assignment Saturday around 5:50 a.m.
When presiding election judge Dianna Jackson arrived minutes later, Stairs said Jackson announced she refused to work with her and began to leave.
Jackson did not respond to two phone calls or a text message requesting comment for this story.
Court records show Stairs was charged with misdemeanor assault on Jackson in November after the two worked early voting for the general election at the same church precinct.
The charging document does not detail the alleged incident.
In her interview with The News, Stairs said “three knuckles” on her right hand accidentally hit Jackson’s elbow while the two were walking through a doorway, prompting Jackson to call for police and an ambulance. Stairs pleaded not guilty and has a bench trial scheduled for June 10.
On Saturday, Stairs said after Jackson began leaving the precinct, the roughly five or so clerks followed, and Stairs started calling for replacements before polls opened.
About 30 minutes later, Stairs said a man she later identified as Price entered the church “in a rage.”
Elections Administrator Heider Garcia told The News that Price called him at 6:05 a.m. to say there was a problem at the precinct and the commissioner was going to go there.
Stairs said Price approached her, and while she had her phone near her face making calls, the commissioner “lifts up his hand high and he whacks my hand and drives (the phone) to the ground.” She said nobody else was inside at the time.
As she picked up her phone, Stairs said Price ordered her to leave.
She said Price didn’t touch her again but used his body as “a driving force with the threat of hitting me with his hands in the air and yelling at me ‘Get out of here, get out of here!’”
When she got outside, Stairs said Price stood in front of the door for about 40 minutes and prevented her from going in. She said Jackson and the clerks returned inside.
Stairs said she called 911, but while on the phone, a Dallas County constable arrived after being called by somebody else. Stairs said she told the operator that police were no longer needed.
She said she didn’t recognize the county commissioner at first but realized the man was Price when she saw a truck in the parking lot emblazoned with his name and photo.
Rubinson, the Dallas police spokesperson, said an officer arrived at the scene but did not create a case number or write a report Saturday because the person who called 911 later stated police were not needed. He said he could not release the name of the caller.
Stairs said no police officer at the scene spoke with her. She said she spoke with a constable but was not asked if she wanted to file a report and “didn’t even think” to suggest it.
“In the moment, my concern was getting me back in,” to conduct her election duties, Stairs said.
The News requested records from the constable’s response and for Stairs’ report filed with police on Monday but has not received them.
When Price called Saturday morning, Garcia said the commissioner told him Jackson asked for a peace officer to be stationed at the polling center due to the conflict between her and Stairs.
Garcia said state law prohibits law enforcement from monitoring the inside of polling places, so he had to deliver paperwork to allow Jackson as presiding judge to appoint a constable to be in the room.
By the time he arrived at Friendship-West Baptist at 7:30 a.m., Garcia said Price had already left.
Garcia said he escorted Stairs inside and informed Jackson that Stairs was the alternate judge and could not be removed. He said both women worked the duration of the day.
Asked why Jackson and Stairs were assigned to work the precinct together considering their history, Garcia said his office did not receive any complaints about the arrangement ahead of election day.
Garcia said as of Friday morning, no law enforcement had contacted him to talk about the incident.
Stairs said she decided to file a police report Monday after speaking with a committee of Dallas County Republican Party members, including Chairman Allen West. She said she first wanted to ensure the party would back her, since “it is not an easy thing to do, to go against John Wiley Price.”
In a statement, West said Price should be criminally prosecuted and resign as county commissioner.
“This type of tyranny will no longer be tolerated and accepted,” West stated.
Alisha Trusty, chief strategist for Friendship-West Baptist, said the church had no staff present on election day and does not have security camera footage from that morning.
State law prohibits filming the inside of polling places, so Trusty said the church suspends its security cameras during election activities.
Staff writers Alex Nguyen and Matt Kyle contributed to this report.