After disagreeing with a proposed reduction in polling sites, Tarrant County commissioners are divided on how many locations to approve for the November midterm election.
County staff are revising the proposed list of sites based on feedback from commissioners. One commissioner proposed keeping the number consistent with the total used during the 2022 midterms, while another suggested an increase to accommodate population growth over the last four years. Others haven’t suggested a specific number but were clear that the proposed list did not include enough sites.
Commissioners were scheduled to vote on the list of sites Aug. 4 but ultimately delayed that decision until Sept. 1 after listening to dozens of speakers criticize the proposed reduction as an attempt to make it harder for voters to cast a ballot. The nearly seven-hour meeting saw attendees removed, banned and arrested.
The proposal from Elections Administrator Clint Ludwig would have eliminated about 45% of the Election Day polling sites used for the 2022 midterms, cutting the total from 316 to 176. The number of early voting sites would have gone from 50 in 2022 to 42 this November.
In a news release Friday, Republican Commissioner Manny Ramirez proposed keeping all sites used in 2022 still eligible for use as a voting location. A new state law requiring voting equipment to be stored in a room with a locking door prevents some of those locations from being used this year.
“Providing free, fair and adequate access to the ballot is a fundamental duty of government,” the release read. “There is no place, and never should be, for political motives in deciding where citizens vote.”
Ramirez’s proposal came three days after the Tarrant County Commissioners Court meeting where he and the court’s other GOP members, County Judge Tim O’Hare and Commissioner Matt Krause, faced accusations of a coordinated effort to make it harder to vote in the midterms. O’Hare dismissed those claims as “utter and complete total nonsense” and made it clear he does not support the proposed reduction. Ludwig, the elections administrator, said he did not consult any of the commissioners before proposing the list.
Ramirez’s seat is on the November ballot. O’Hare is also up for reelection, facing Democratic Commissioner Alisa Simmons, who is also opposed to reducing polling sites.
Democratic Commissioner Roderick Miles, whose seat is not on the ballot, proposed increasing the number of early voting sites to 60 and Election Day sites to 255.
“A growing county should be opening the doors of democracy wider, not closing them,” Miles said in a news release the day of the vote. “No decision made by this court should place an unnecessary burden between the people and their voice.”
Fewer voting locations could make voting harder for residents without reliable transportation or childcare, Miles said. He also expressed concern that cutting sites could lead to longer lines and put pressure on voting equipment and poll workers.
Neither O’Hare nor Simmons were specific about how many polling sites they wanted. Neither of their spokespersons returned requests for comment. Krause, who also did not return a request for comment, has not said explicitly whether he supports an increase or reduction in sites.
While reviewing the list over the coming weeks, commissioners and county staff should be careful to ensure that changes in polling sites don’t burden voters, said Keith Gaddie, a political science professor at Texas Christian University who studies voting rights.
“We want to avoid having long queues,” Gaddie said. “We don’t want people waiting in line to vote. We want them to come in, be able to get a ballot, and vote in an efficient and effective manner.”
During the work day, voters should be able to get from their place of work to a polling location, cast their ballot and return to the office in less than an hour, Gaddie said.
Election Day is Nov. 3, and early voting is Oct. 19-30. The ballot includes more than 70 partisan roles at the county, state and federal levels of government, as well as nonpartisan positions on the Tarrant Appraisal District and Keller school board.
Cecilia Lenzen is a government accountability reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact her at cecilia.lenzen@fortworthreport.org.
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