Tarrant County, Texas, will open 224 polling places on Tuesday. In the 2022 midterms it opened 316. The man who proposed the cuts, elections administrator Clint Ludwig, acknowledged under oath this month that he did not assess how they would affect Black, Hispanic or low-income voters, and did not ask Black or Hispanic organizations for input.
A state district judge in Fort Worth has declined to put the sites back. Judge Patrick Gallagher denied a temporary injunction on Oct. 13 in a one-page order that gave no reason. The lawsuit continues, but no site will be restored before Election Day.
Four women of color who live in the county brought the suit. They argue the plan was meant to make voting harder for Black and Hispanic residents and that the closures fall hardest on neighborhoods where those residents are concentrated. One example drew the most attention at the Sept. 1 vote: the list commissioners approved left Fort Worth’s 76104 ZIP code, described in coverage as a predominantly Black and brown part of the city, with no sites at all.
The county’s case is about numbers and money. Officials cited low turnout at certain sites in 2024 and savings of about $1 million, and Ludwig pointed to facility availability and accessibility rules. “I’m confident that what is proposed is going to give everybody that wants to vote the opportunity to vote,” he said at the time. County Judge Tim O’Hare said after the ruling: “Every voter deserves a safe, accessible location with secure equipment, and this plan does that.”
The three Republicans on the five-member Commissioners Court voted for the plan: O’Hare and Commissioners Matt Krause and Manny Ramirez. The two Democrats, Alisa Simmons and Roderick Miles Jr., voted against. More than 100 people spoke against the cuts during an eight-hour meeting. Miles told his colleagues: “You are creating poll taxes, modern day poll taxes, for people to go and vote.” He added that voters with cars and bus fare are not the only ones who need to be able to vote.
The effect is practical. Fewer sites mean longer trips, longer lines and more voters who can be turned away by a single bad hour. The sites that closed are not spread evenly, and the lawsuit says 46 of them each drew more than 500 voters in 2022, despite a county methodology that says such sites should be kept, as Democracy Docket reported from the filing.
Early voting ran Oct. 19 to 30, with 47 sites against 50 in 2022. Tuesday’s vote is the first chance for the county to show whether the Election Day cuts cost it voters. One of the plaintiffs, after the ruling, urged people to “come out in record numbers and stay in line.” Polls in Texas open at 7 a.m. and close at 7 p.m. Central.
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