Tarrant County officials on Friday selected a new elections administrator: the county’s chief deputy clerk, a retired U.S. Marine with no previous experience running elections.

Members of the county’s Election Commission, a group of bipartisan officials tasked with filling the job, voted unanimously to appoint Clinton Ludwig. Former elections director Heider Garcia submitted his resignation in April, citing political pressure. Ludwig will begin his new role Aug. 1.....

The county received 35 applicants, but the majority didn’t have election administration experience, leaving the commission struggling to find a candidate prepared to oversee elections for more than 1 million registered voters. Ludwig was one of three finalists. Another, Karen Wiseman, is a prominent Republican donor and activist who has sued the county and Garcia over election records and has baselessly criticized the security of the county’s elections. The third finalist was Fred Crosley, the former chief financial officer of the county’s public transit service, Trinity Metro.....

Voters in Tarrant County, which is historically deep-red, favored President Joe Biden over Donald Trump by 1,826 votes in 2020, the only exception to Republican victories down the ballot. Local and national voter fraud activists have questioned election results in the county and have accused Garcia of malfeasance.