Arlington City Council will push forward on a resolution regarding November midterm polling site cuts in Tarrant County.
A majority of council members indicated an interest in bringing the resolution to a vote at the end of September, following the county commissioners court’s decision to cut 19 of 57 Election Day voting sites and two early voting sites.
Council members looked over the resolution language at their Sept. 8 meeting. Mayor Jim Ross said then he worried about the reduction in polling places in the county and city as the population and voting rates continue to grow.
“Our community needs to know that we have their back on this thing, and that we’re not afraid to butt heads with people who are doing our voters, our residents, wrong,” Ross said.
The formal resolution will go to a vote during the council’s next regularly scheduled meeting on Sept. 29.
Council members first discussed a possible resolution on Aug. 25. Ross had brought the issue forward, asking council members if they would evaluate some form of resolution regarding the polling sites. In an interview with the Arlington Report later that month, the mayor acknowledged that the resolution would come to council members after commissioners made their decision, saying it may be a “moot point.”
The initial conversation did not include the resolution language, but Ross asked city attorney Molly Shortall to write a draft, which was not made public.
On Sept. 1, Tarrant County commissioners voted 3-2 along party lines on a new list of polling locations that had 92 fewer sites than the 2022 midterm elections.
During the Arlington council’s September meeting, Ross once again admitted that the sentiment of a resolution could be ignored but that he felt it was important to send a message.
“I’m a believer that we owe it to the residents of Arlington to speak out on their behalf that we don’t agree with the reduction of the polling sites,” Ross said.
The final list of polling sites resulted in Arlington having 19 fewer Election Day sites and one fewer early voting site than it did in 2022. Roughly 28% of the 2022 ballots cast on Election Day in Arlington came from a location that will not be open in November.
Council members discussed where the cuts were made, focusing on the location of the eliminated polling sites and the distance between them.
Council member Raul Gonzalez initially said he understood cuts for polling locations that were roughly a block away from each other but later said he was unsure of the county’s methodology when looking at two polling locations in or near Pantego.
The Pantego Town Hall Council Chambers and Bailey Junior High will both be used as polling locations despite being across the street from each other.
“It makes no sense how they’re doing it,” Gonzalez said.
Another major point for council members was the exclusion of the University of Texas at Arlington’s Mavericks Activity Center early voting location.
In 2022, the location operated alongside six others in the city as an early voting site. During that election, residents cast the least number of ballots there out of the seven.
However, most council members insisted that the resolution should include the UTA location by name.
Council member Brittney Garcia-Dumas, whose district covers the main campus, said she wants to do whatever the council can to get UTA back as a voting location.
“This is a line I’m willing to hold,” Garcia-Dumas said, referring to passing a resolution. “The bravest thing we’re doing is a resolution after the vote was already gone. It’s the least we can do.”
Council member Bowie Hogg agreed on the UTA location, despite hesitancy on the resolution as a whole. He asked Shortall to amend the resolution language to focus on Arlington and add UTA but said he didn’t know what a resolution would accomplish.
“I think we are getting in the middle of people using this as a political fight at the county level, which I think is occurring across the board for this fight,” Hogg said. “I wish I could say I think people are doing it just for the good of citizens. I think they’re doing it just for their own political will on either side, from what they’re doing.”
He added that he would like to do something, such as allocating free Via rides on Election Day. The rideshare service operates as an on-demand service throughout the year, though the city has traditionally paid to make the service free on election days.
Hogg asked Shortall if a representative from the county’s election administration could walk council members through the parameters for cuts. Shortall responded that nobody was available on Sept. 8, but that the city will reach out again ahead of the next meeting.
Chris Moss is a reporter for the Arlington Report. Contact him at chris.moss@arlingtonreport.org.
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