Tarrant County commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to delay approving polling sites for the November midterm election, after agreeing that the lists proposed by the county elections administrator included too few locations.
Clint Ludwig, the administrator who oversees the county鈥檚 elections, cutting the number of Election Day polling sites by 45% from the total used for the 2022 midterms, from 316 to 176. The proposal would have cut the number of early voting sites from the 50 used in 2022 down to 42 for this fall.
鈥淚鈥檓 not comfortable with 176 election sites,鈥� Republican County Judge Tim O鈥橦are said. 鈥淚 think that鈥檚 way too large a cut.鈥�
Rather than revise the list of proposed locations during the meeting, commissioners pushed the vote to their Sept. 1 meeting.
The delay came after commissioners heard testimony from dozens of speakers, the majority of whom were opposed to a reduction in polling sites. Speakers argued that commissioners should instead increase the number of polling sites to accommodate population growth since the 2022 midterms and allow for greater voter accessibility to the polls.
The November includes county judge and two commissioners seats, as well as several other elected county positions and state and federal offices.
During the nearly seven-hour meeting Tuesday, O鈥橦are made all attendees leave the room after some speakers continued talking after their allotted time to address the courtroom had run out and others shouted or used profanity. Former Democratic state representative Lon Burnam, speaking against the proposal, was and physically carried from the courtroom by four sheriff deputies, who held him by his hands and feet.
Several speakers accused the court鈥檚 three Republicans 鈥� O鈥橦are and commissioners Matt Krause and Manny Ramirez 鈥� of seeking to limit voter access to the polls. Both O鈥橦are and Ramirez are on the November ballot.
鈥淭his country was built from the radical idea that power flows up from the people, not down to a dictator or a king,鈥� speaker Candice Swanson told commissioners Tuesday. 鈥淰oters in Tarrant County understand that a handful of people who do not win an honest argument are suppressing the vote in order to win.鈥�
O鈥橦are said from the dais that Ludwig did not receive any input on his proposed voting site list, and that accusations of a conspiracy were 鈥渦tter and complete total nonsense.鈥� Ramirez said he didn鈥檛 see the proposed list until it appeared on the meeting agenda that was published last week. Ludwig said he did not consult any commissioners before making the proposal.
Last year, the GOP commissioners to cut more than 100 Election Day polling sites for the November election that included 17 state constitutional amendments and a Texas Senate seat. Democratic commissioners Alisa Simmons and Roderick Miles voted against that reduction, saying fewer sites would make it harder for residents to vote.
Ludwig told commissioners he 鈥渇ocused on the math,鈥� analyzing voter turnout from the 2022 midterms to determine how many polling sites would be needed this year. He said he factored the unusually high voter turnout in this year鈥檚 primary elections into that equation, increasing his suggested number for November.
The proposed 176 sites would have been the minimum needed to accommodate the turnout he expects to see during a 12-hour voting day, Ludwig said. The sites he did propose were evenly divided across the four commissioners court precincts.
Simmons wasn鈥檛 satisfied with Ludwig鈥檚 reasoning, accusing him of being swayed by outside influences.
鈥淭his is a deliberate act to reduce voter access,鈥� Simmons said.
Ludwig pushed back on that assessment, insisting he took a math-focused, data-driven approach to the proposal. Krause also defended Ludwig, saying the elections administrator did his job by bringing a proposal to commissioners, who have final say over the list.
Before the meeting, nearly 100 voting rights advocates, local progressive activists and candidates on the November ballot gathered outside the courthouse for a news conference, urging commissioners to vote against the proposed cuts.
鈥淭he right to vote is sacred. The majority members of this court are dishonoring what it means to be an American,鈥� said Katherine Godby, co-founder and board chair for the interfaith activist group Justice Network of Tarrant County.
Texas Sen. Nathan Johnson from Dallas, the Democratic nominee for attorney general on the November ballot, said he didn鈥檛 buy the argument that cutting locations would cut costs for the county.
鈥淎re they worried that if everybody can get out and vote, even in Republican areas, they鈥檙e going to reject the MAGA nonsense that鈥檚 sitting on this commissioners court?鈥� Johnson said. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e worried that people will actually vote. I think they鈥檙e worried that we鈥檙e gonna vote for Democrats.鈥�
Kevin Burge, the Democratic nominee for a U.S. congressional seat representing northern Tarrant County, told the gathering he and a coalition of voting rights advocates were prepared to sue the county if commissioners went forward with the site reductions. That coalition also includes Nathan Smith, the Democratic nominee for Tarrant County clerk, and the Tarrant County Young Democrats.
The coalition made four demands:
- Approve a list of voting sites that includes at least as many locations as the 2022 midterms.
- Reinstate the sites proposed to be cut on college campuses, including the Maverick Activities Center at the University of Texas at Arlington and Tarrant County College鈥檚 Northeast Campus.
- Publish the methodology used to select the voting sites that were proposed to be cut.
- Schedule another commissioners court meeting to allow the public to provide additional input on the proposed sites.
Cecilia Lenzen is a government accountability reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact her at cecilia.lenzen@fortworthreport.org.
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