Three new proposals from Tarrant County staff would not eliminate early voting sites at colleges, but they would reduce the number of locations.
Republican Tarrant County Judge Tim O’Hare questioned the county's proposed early voting locations at colleges during a Commissioners Court meeting last week. He said it’s not the county’s job to make it easier for specific groups, like students, to vote.
Commissioners rejected the proposed list in a 2-2 vote, Democrats voting to approve, Republicans voting to reject. Republican Commissioner Manny Ramirez was not present, and a tie means the motion fails.
County staff are coming back with three new lists of early voting sites for commissioners to consider at a meeting on Thursday. The proposals vary, but all of them include fewer voting sites and fewer colleges.
All three proposals would eliminate early voting sites at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and Tarrant County College South Campus. About 4,000 people voted early at each of these locations during the 2020 presidential election, according to county data.
Both of those sites fall in Democratic County Commissioner Roy Charles Brooks' precinct, which covers the southwest part of the county. The county should make it easier for people to vote, not harder, he told KERA.
"Tarrant County College South Campus is in the middle of a minority neighborhood, and the majority of the students there are members of minority groups. They're either Black or Hispanic," Brooks said. "It's clearly voter suppression."
Commissioners will meet Thursday at 10 a.m. at the county administration building in downtown Fort Worth, but the two Democrats on the court won't be in town. They had previously planned travel that was approved by the Commissioners Court, Brooks said.
The meeting was scheduled to exclude them, Democratic County Commissioner Alisa Simmons said.
"All of this is blatant. It's outrageously partisan. It's cowardly," she said. "These efforts are targeted at communities of color to suppress their vote."
Brooks will be chairing a meeting of the National Organization of Black County Officials and cannot join Thursday's meeting remotely, he said. Simmons said she intends to join over Zoom.
KERA has reached out to O'Hare's office for comment on the proposals and the meeting's scheduling. This story will be updated with any response.
Draft proposal #1 would eliminate the polling place at UT Arlington, which Tarrant County Election Administrator Clint Ludwig called one of the county’s busiest. O’Hare took issue with the UTA location, saying it’s too close to another polling place, the Arlington Subcourthouse. Ludwig explained the locations are close together because they’re both busy.
Liam Crowley is a sophomore at UTA who said he's voted at both locations. The time he voted at the subcourthouse, he made the "poor decision" to bike there on Abram — a busy street — during the lunch rush.
"Voting on campus is definitely easier and safer to do," he said.
When Crowley heard about the proposal to get rid of the UTA site, he said he was disgusted.
"It seemed transparently an attempt to try to reduce the amount of votes cast by our demographic," he said.
Jose Morales is a senior studying film. Not being able to vote on campus would be unfair, he said.
"I think it would be more convenient for it to be on campus, because this is where everybody's at," he said.
For sophomore Kevon Benson, having to go to the subcourthouse a mile away would still work.
"I will find a way to vote, because that's a priority of mine," he said.
Texas Republicans have pushed against college voting sites before. During the last legislative session, one state representative filed a bill to ban polling locations at colleges altogether.
Republican County Commissioner Manny Ramirez was not present for the vote on the original early voting locations proposal. In an interview with KERA, he would not share how he would have voted, but he said he has no bias against college polling sites.
"Eliminating any election sites is not a priority of mine," he said.
Ramirez said he'd judge the usefulness of polling sites based on how many people vote there, and on the election administrator's recommendations.
Ludwig told commissioners last week 60 or 70 would be an ideal number of early voting locations. All three proposals have fewer sites than the original proposal, which only had 50.
Tarrant County GOP Chairman Bo French spoke against the original early voting sites list at Commissioners Court, and an email newsletter sent out Friday celebrated the rejection.
“On that list were several colleges and universities that Chairman French thought might not serve the community well and could lean liberal,” the newsletter said.
The newsletter called the rejection of college voting sites “a serious win for Republicans in Tarrant County.”
"Chairman French is committed to ensuring Republicans have a fighting chance in our elections so that we can win in November and keep Tarrant County red,” it read.
High-profile Democrats have been seeing more success in Tarrant County in recent elections, while Republicans still tend to win down-ballot.
Democrat Beto O’Rourke lost his Senate race against Republican Ted Cruz in 2018, but he did win Tarrant County. In 2020, President Joe Biden became the first Democratic presidential candidate to win Tarrant County since Lyndon B. Johnson.
This story has been updated with comments from UTA students as well as Commissioners Roy Charles Brooks, Alisa Simmons and Manny Ramirez.
Got a tip? Email Miranda Suarez at msuarez@kera.org. You can follow Miranda on X @MirandaRSuarez.
KERA News is made possible through the generosity of our members. If you find this reporting valuable, consider making a tax-deductible gift today. Thank you.
