Tarrant County commissioners to vote on new plan reducing polling locations

Tarrant County commissioners will vote Tuesday on a new proposal to reduce Election Day polling locations in the booming county. It has fewer cuts than the original plan proposed, but Democrats say the new plan still falls short.

The first proposal called for 176 polling places on Election Day and 42 polling places for early voting.

The new proposal calls for 224 polling places on Election Day, 48 more than the first proposal and 54 more than the statutory minimum, according to Tarrant County Judge Tim O'Hare, a Republican and the county's top elected official. 

The new proposal also calls for 47 early voting polling places, an increase of 5 from the first proposal. 

"When the first version of this plan came before Commissioners Court, I said on the record that I didn't believe it contained enough locations and asked staff to sharpen their pencils," O'Hare said.

The new proposal is down from 2022, which saw 316 polling places on Election Day and 50 for early voting. County officials say the plan would save resources by eliminating low-turnout sites.      

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico joined protesters on Sunday over the proposal to reduce Tarrant County's Election Day polling locations. He said the cuts could mean longer travel and lines, confusion and lower voter turnout.

"Dropping 92 Election Day polling places is crazy."

"That's nearly a third of the polling locations in Tarrant County, and that means on Election Day, there will be longer commutes, longer lines and lower voter turnout, especially in our Black and brown communities," Talarico said,

Talarico and Tarrant County Commissioner Alisa Simmons, who is running for county judge, were at the University of Texas Arlington. The campus used to have a polling location, but it has since been removed.

Things got heated at the previous meeting, which lasted nearly seven hours, when changes were discussed. At that time, Clint Ludwig, the administrator who oversees the county's elections, told commissioners he analyzed voter turnout from the 2022 midterms to come up with the number of polling sites needed.

O'Hare said the new proposal exceeds the statutory minimum, adding that some locations were changed due to buildings no longer being operable and ADA requirements.

"Every voter deserves a safe, accessible location with secure equipment, and this plan does that," said O'Hare.

"The minimum is never my standard, and it should not be a standard of a county this size," Simmons said,

Currently, Tarrant County has more than 1.3 million registered voters.

Texas counties determine number of polling locations

Texas law lets each of the state's 254 counties decide how many polling places to use. Tarrant County adopted countywide voting in 2019 but didn't immediately begin reducing the number of polling locations.

On Friday, the NAACP and the American Civil Liberties Union joined voting rights groups in signing a letter urging the county to reject the proposal, saying the closures would be strongly felt in areas with high percentages of minority voters. About a third of the county's residents are Hispanic, and about 19.2% are Black, according to Census data.

Closing polling locations in Texas is not a new trend, county elections officials say. The trend has been accelerated by an embrace of countywide voting sites and the difficulty in recruiting poll workers. Other Texas counties have also considered or already reduced the number of polling locations for November, while some have added more.

"We're clearly not trying to suppress the vote," Rep. Matt Shaheen, the Republican chairman of the House Elections Committee, said of polling site reductions in Texas. "That's a silly accusation."

Paxton, Talarico race for U.S. Senate

In the November midterms, Talarico will face off for the U.S. Senate seat against Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton.

Federal election records show Paxton is far behind in fundraising and TV advertising, but President Trump flew to Houston last Thursday to drum up financial support and the AG says he is not too worried.

The Real Clear Politics average of polls currently shows Talarico leading Paxton 46% to 44%.