Conservatives have built a divisive wall — one made of political placards at the Lakeside Activity Center in Mesquite.

And at the Lochwood Branch Library in Dallas, Democrats and Republicans are waging war over patches of grass.

As Dallas County early voting turnout in the 2018 midterms surpasses that of the 2016 presidential election, the two polling places have taken on a circus-like atmosphere.

The behavior of zealous campaign workers from both parties at the two early voting sites has prompted numerous complaints. The county’s former elections administrator said the electioneering seems slightly “amped up” this year. And Mesquite election judge Zina West-Lewis said at least 15 people a day have complained about the sign blockade and the poll greeters.

“When people come here, they already know who they’re going to vote for,” West-Lewis said, pointing out that many people toss the campaign fliers in the trash as soon as they come into the building. “To me, the intimidation is overwhelming.”

On Tuesday, campaign workers for Republican and Democratic candidates — fliers in hand — approached people within feet of their cars at the Lakeside Activity Center. Voters couldn’t cut across the lawn to get to the entrance of the rec center because a nearly uninterrupted fence of political signs for both parties has sprung up around the parking lot perimeter.

West-Lewis said several voters complained that the path between the parking lot of their polling site and the voting booth has become a nasty obstacle course.

This makeshift fence funnels people along the sidewalk through a small opening in a wall of mostly Republican placards where smiling campaign workers make a last pitch to voters. Supporters of Democratic state Rep. Victoria Neave also stood near her Republican rival, Deanna Metzger, whose campaign has erected a tent on site.

One voter called poll workers from the parking lot to ask if there was another polling place she could go to because she felt uncomfortable after being “bum-rushed” by a poll greeter, West-Lewis said.

But the election judge said she can do little about the complaints. Except for the occasional straggler, the signs and the poll greeters have remained planted beyond 100 feet from the entrance to the polling place, where electioneering is not forbidden under state law.

Cities that own public buildings doubling as polling sites can impose their own “reasonable regulations,” such as banning campaigning on sidewalks. But Mesquite doesn’t have such rules.

The city does restrict the size of political signs and can control the way in which they are placed if they endanger people’s safety, said City Manager Cliff Keheley. He noted that some signs at Lakeside were relocated because they were obstructing the view of people driving out of the site.

But the signs that voters are complaining about don’t violate the city’s size parameters — even the placard wall, Keheley said.

“I can assure you, we looked for everything that we could to make a better experience out there,” Keheley said.

Last week, Mesquite officers were called to Lakeside after a Republican woman complained that a man was pulling down a sign calling Neave a “convicted criminal” over her drunken-driving case. The man got a ticket for littering and a criminal trespass warning, police said.

Neave criticized the placard but said she doesn’t condone taking down signs.

“Our campaign is about people, not plastic,” Neave said. “People are getting all worked up about signs, and I think it’s kind of ridiculous.”

Squabbling at Lochwood

The election judge at Lochwood Branch Library said he’s also received complaints, but then referred questions to the county elections department.

Dallas County elections administrator Toni Pippins-Poole and two election workers didn’t return calls seeking comment.

One of the complaints came from Donna Hinkle, a 58-year-old woman who alleged a Metzger campaign worker screamed at her after she told the volunteer that she wouldn’t vote for Metzger.

“I felt intimidated,” she said. “I felt bullied.”

Signs at the library weren't blocking pathways to the entrance like at Lakeside, but campaign workers have placed placards directly in front of others to hide messages from political rivals.

Danielle Harris, a volunteer with Metzger's campaign at Lochwood, said that both sides had been "getting heated" but that it amounted to nothing more than moving each other's signs and squabbling.

Angela Kutac with the Funky East Dallas Democrats alleged that the situation was more serious. She complained she felt unsafe after an argument Tuesday morning between her group and conservative campaigners.

The two groups were seen arguing on a video taken Tuesday and provided to The Dallas Morning News by the Funky East Dallas Democrats. The video shows a man driving stakes into the ground to relocate a sign with Neave's mugshot for a drunken-driving arrest. Then a Democratic volunteer sat on the ground between the stakes to interfere with the sign relocation.

"I guess they're going to just move over here and be like Lakeside No. 2," Kutac said, narrating.

'Amped up'

Bruce Sherbet, a former Dallas County elections administrator who now holds the same role in Collin County, said the alleged activity at the Lakeside Activity Center and the Lochwood library seemed "amped up" compared with previous elections.

People looking to the elections department for help may be disappointed. Sherbet said it doesn't have authority to regulate electioneering beyond the 100-foot marker at a polling site.

"I'm not going to say it's like the wild, wild West,” he said. “But if you have a polling place that doesn't have any regulations about signage ... then you've got a situation where it's kind of a free-for-all.”

Sherbet said some of the fired-up activity is because emotions are running high this election season.

"You've got electioneering in these big elections no matter what, and hard-fought elections make it even more so," Sherbet said.

1 / 4First-time voters Rebecca Perez and Adrian Morales of Mesquite emerged from the early voting site at Lakeside Activity Center on Tuesday. They said the crowd of people trying to influence their vote at the parking lot next to the polling place was "kind of intimidating."(Louis DeLuca / Staff Photographer) 2 / 4Early voters move through a gauntlet of information and activity as they arrive at the early voting site at Lakeside Activity Center on Tuesday.(Louis DeLuca / Staff Photographer) 3 / 4An "I voted" sticker was placed over the eye of a political poster in the parking lot next to the early voting site at Lakeside Activity Center in Mesquite.(Louis DeLuca / Staff Photographer) 4 / 4Political buttons adorn the hat of a woman at the early voting site at Lakeside Activity Center in Mesquite, Texas, photographed Tuesday, October 30, 2018. (Louis DeLuca/The Dallas Morning News)(Louis DeLuca / Staff Photographer)

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CORRECTION, 5:10 p.m., Oct. 31, 2018: An earlier version of this story included an incorrect spelling for Angela Kutac's last name.