Tarrant County voters could have fewer places to cast a ballot in this November’s midterm election than they did four years ago.
County commissioners are considering cutting the number of Election Day sites to 176, a roughly 45% decrease from the 316 day-of voting sites available in the 2022 midterms. For early voting, there would be 42 polling sites instead of the 50 available in 2022.
Commissioners vote on the proposed site lists during their 10 a.m. meeting Aug. 4.
More than 1.3 million people are registered to vote in Tarrant County. The November ballot includes more than 70 partisan midterm races at county, state and federal levels, as well as nonpartisan roles up for election on the Tarrant Appraisal District and Keller ISD board of trustees.
Last year, Republican commissioners voted to cut more than 100 Election Day voting sites, saying the move would save costs, as nonpresidential elections typically garner lower voter turnout. The November ballot last year included 17 state constitutional amendments and a vacant Texas Senate seat representing much of Tarrant County. Democratic commissioners voted against the cuts, arguing that reducing the number of sites would reduce accessibility for voters, particularly in communities of color that saw the most reductions.
Under the proposal, the following locations that were used as early voting sites in 2022 would not be available this year, according to an internal list obtained by the Fort Worth Report:
- Center for Community Service Junior League of Arlington.
- Maverick Activities Center at the University of Texas at Arlington.
- Azle ISD Instructional Support Center.
- Colleyville Public Library.
- Everman Civic Center.
- Forest Hill Civic and Convention Center.
- James Avenue Service Center.
- Southside Community Center.
- Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.
- Tarrant County College South Campus Student Center.
- University of North Texas Health Science Center.
- The Villages of Woodland Springs amenity center.
- Kennedale Community Center.
- Former Bursey Road Senior Adult Center.
- Saint Paul Presbyterian Church.
- Saginaw City Hall.
Some of the sites used in past elections, such as the Maverick Activities Center, cannot be used this year because they don’t meet a new state requirement that voting equipment be stored in a locked room, according to the internal list.
Some of the sites cut were replaced by these nearby facilities on the proposed list of early voting locations:
- ACTIV.
- Azle ISD Disciplinary Alternative Education Program.
- Colleyville Recreation Center Annex A.
- Forest Hill City Hall.
- Diamond Hill/Jarvis Library.
- Hazel Harvey Peace Center for Neighborhoods.
- Southwest Community Center.
- Northpark YMCA.
- Brookside Center.
- Tarrant County College Northeast.
- Dover Fellowship Hall.
- North Richland Hills City Hall.
- Saginaw Public Library.
Early voting is Oct. 19-30. The deadline to register to vote is Oct. 5.
Cecilia Lenzen is a government accountability reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact her at cecilia.lenzen@fortworthreport.org.
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This article first appeared on Fort Worth Report and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
