In 2020, voters could cast early ballots at nine college campuses across Tarrant County. That number could be cut to five during a Sept. 12 special called county commissioners court meeting following a disagreement along party lines over whether the campus polling places add value for voters.
Following a Sept. 11 press conference with Democratic lawmakers and students, three Democratic candidates for local and state office say they will file a joint lawsuit if commissioners follow through with the plan to reduce college polling locations.
Laura Leeman, the Democrat seeking the Tarrant County Commissioner Precinct 3 seat, said she has spoken with fellow candidates Sam Eppler and Scott White about legal action. She described the proposals for fewer campus sites as “1000%” voter suppression.
“It just makes no sense to me,” Leeman told the Report. “The only sense I can make of this is that the county judge is clearly afraid, as well as the GOP chair. They’re afraid, and so they are using this tactic of suppressing votes.”
Commissioners are expected to consider three different draft proposals of early voting sites after rejecting a previous list in early September. All proposals include eliminating some college polling sites. Potential sites that could be cut include Fort Worth’s Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and Tarrant County College South Campus, Hurst’s Tarrant County College Northeast Campus and the University of Texas at Arlington.
County Judge Tim O’Hare, a Republican, has denied that he is trying to eliminate college voting sites. Rather, he said during a Sept. 4 meeting, some of the early voting sites are too close together, pointing to UT-Arlington and the Arlington subcourthouse as examples. Elections Administrator Clint Ludwig said their proximity was due to high demand in the area.
O’Hare said voting locations should not cater to certain demographic groups or to “go make sure we get more of this group to vote or more of that group to vote.”
“That doesn’t seem like the right way to run an election,” O’Hare said. “That seems like it’s trying to favor one group over another. Not voter suppression.”
During the meeting, commissioners voted on a list that did not include any reduction in early voting sites on college campuses. The two Democratic county commissioners — Alisa Simmons and Roy Brooks — voted to approve the original list, which featured eight campus early voting sites.
O’Hare and Commissioner Gary Fickes, both Republicans, voted against it. Republican Commissioner Manny Ramirez was not present. With a tie, the motion to approve the early voting location list failed. The Election Day voting list was approved by commissioners in a 3-1 vote, with O’Hare the lone no vote.
Without a list of approved early voting locations, O’Hare called a special meeting for 10 a.m. Sept. 12 to make a final decision. Fickes and O’Hare did not respond to requests for comment from the Report or KERA Wednesday.
In a Sept. 11 interview, Ramirez declined to say which proposal he would support, but said he would closely listen to Ludwig’s recommendations. Rather than focusing on the campus sites, Ramirez said his priority is to ensure that there is an equal representation of polling sites across all four commissioner precincts.
“An equal number of polling locations is far more of a priority to me than where the actual sites are,” he said. “Just so long as we’re providing, you know, free, fair and plenty of access to any of our citizens who wish to exercise their right to vote, I think that’s our responsibility.”
Ramirez called it a “pretty big surprise” that the campus voting sites have become a controversial issue.
“These same sites have been approved in some form or fashion in different cycles for more than a decade, so I certainly didn’t anticipate the controversy,” Ramirez, who represents northwest Tarrant County, said.
Simmons and Brooks will not be able to attend the meeting in person because of a prior scheduled visit to Washington, D.C. to attend the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation annual conference. Simmons said O’Hare and other commissioners have known about their absence since early August.
Brooks told KERA he will not be able to attend the meeting virtually due to a prior commitment chairing a meeting of the National Organization of Black County Officials.
Simmons plans to attend the Sept. 12 meeting virtually, despite being in three face-to-face meetings in the capital that day. If it’s not on the agenda already, Simmons plans to introduce another proposed list of early voting sites that doesn’t include elimination of college sites, according to a spokesperson from her office.
Tarrant County Republican Party leadership has supported a reduction in campus polling sites. In a newsletter sent out Sept. 9, Tarrant GOP Chair Bo French echoed O’Hare’s sentiments and called on area Republicans to tell commissioners they support the first proposal, which would exclude four campuses — the most out of the three plans. UT-Arlington and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, along with the south and northeast campuses of TCC, would be removed under that proposal.
“If the County is going to select polling locations to cater to a specific demographic, why not cater to older citizens or churches? These demographics are far more likely to vote than college students,” French wrote in the newsletter.
College voting sites gained popularity after countywide voting rollout
The Fort Worth Report dug into data for early voting sites at college campuses for the past three presidential elections — in 2012, 2016 and 2020. Data analyzed by the Report shows that when residents can vote anywhere they want in the county, college campuses become a more attractive location for early voters.
Early voting data shows that, in 2020, 10% of all voters who cast an early ballot did so at a college or university campus. Of the nine campus polling locations, Tarrant County College Southeast and the UNT Health Science Center attracted the most voters.
2020 was the first presidential election where Tarrant County voters could cast a ballot at any polling location in the county; previously, voters had to cast a ballot at an assigned polling location in their precinct.
Data for the 2012 and 2016 elections, where restrictions on voting locations were still in place, show far fewer voters cast an early ballot at college campuses.
In 2016, 4.7% of early voters cast a ballot at a college or university campus. In 2012, 3.8% of early voters cast an on-campus ballot. In all three election cycles, the county authorized nine early voting locations on college or university campuses.
Tarrant County Republican leaders have long been critical of countywide voting. French, who became chair of the Tarrant GOP last year, has called for commissioners to put an end to countywide voting, alleging the practice makes it more difficult to prevent fraud.
“Voter turnout actually went down after Countywide voting was enacted,” French said in a Sept. 9 X post. “So when you see all the lying democrats on here whining about voter suppression, just know they only care about making it easier to cheat.”
Tarrant County has been held up on the statewide level as an example of a well run, secure elections system. An audit of the 2020 general election, ordered by Gov. Greg Abbott, legitimized elections in Tarrant County. The small amount of voter fraud revealed by the audit would not have affected the results of the election, auditors said.
Campuses, students respond to proposals
The Fort Worth Report reached out to area colleges for their response to the proposals. Both Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and Tarrant County College deferred to county officials in determining election sites.
A spokesperson for UTA said the college is “fortunate” to have a voting location and “appreciates opportunities to host voting on the UTA campus.” While not on a proposed list to be cut, a TCU spokesperson said the university recognized the importance and convenience of early voting.
Campus population numbers
As of 2019, voters who live in Tarrant County can vote at any polling site within the county. College campuses are sites with a large number of students and employees. Of the proposed campus sites to be cut, here are estimates from the colleges on the number of students and employees.
Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary
- 3,586 student enrollment
- 167 full-time employees
Tarrant County College, Northeast
- 10,416 student enrollment
- 802 employees
Tarrant County College, South
- 8,412 student enrollment
- 578 employees
University of Texas at Arlington
- More than 41,000 students
- Nearly 5,000 employees
“We would be disappointed to lose the opportunity to have early voting on our campus,” said Kathy Cavins-Tull, TCU vice chancellor of student affairs.
College students from across the county also made their voices heard during a Sept. 11 press conference at the UT-Arlington campus, including Tarrant County College Northeast student Emeri Callaway.
“I think it’s very important to have the student population have an accessible voting location that they don’t have to worry about,” said Callaway, a political science major and member of Tarrant County Young Democrats who has worked to register voters and voted multiple times on the college campus. “We’re oftentimes working full-time jobs or part-time jobs, or even two jobs to make a living while also going to school full time.”
Several students said they felt the move to reduce campus voting sites would diminish the power of their voice.
“(This) is a calculated attempt to prevent young people from showing up and showing out against oppressive and outdated policies that threaten the soul of this diverse nation,” said Kayla Rabb, a graduate student at TCU and president of Texas NAACP Youth and College Division. “You talk about money and manpower, but true democracy is priceless.”
Shomial Ahmad is a higher education reporter for the Fort Worth Report, in partnership with Open Campus. Contact her at shomial.ahmad@fortworthreport.org.
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This article first appeared on Fort Worth Report and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.