Tarrant County commissioners voted 3-2 to reduce the number of Election Day polling sites by 92 ahead of the 2026 midterm election, drawing criticism from residents and elected officials.
The approved plan calls for the county to reduce the number of Election Day vote centers from 316 to 224 this November. Early-voting locations will be reduced from 50 in 2022 to 47.
The final plan is less aggressive than the proposal initially presented by Tarrant County Elections Administrator Clint Ludwig, which called for reducing Election Day locations to 176 and early-voting locations to 42.
Ludwig said he “focused on the math” and analyzed voter turnout from the 2022 midterm election to determine whether hundreds of locations were necessary.
“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 original proposal was unanimously delayed in August, giving commissioners additional time to review the plan and receive public input.
However, residents and Democrats, including U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico, criticized the proposed reductions. Talarico urged the Commissioners Court to reject the plan.
“The most powerful people in this county, the most powerful people in this country, don’t want us to be able to vote easily,” Talarico said at a news conference on Sunday.
“We’re here fighting for the rights of everybody,” Talarico added. “The problem is when we let voting rights become a partisan issue. That’s when we walk down a very dangerous path in this country.”
Tarrant County Commissioner Alisa Simmons spoke alongside Talarico at the news conference, saying it is unacceptable for the third-largest county in the state to reduce the number of polling sites.
“Our question should be, as elected officials of the Tarrant County Commissioners Court, how do we make voting easier for every eligible Tarrant County voter,” Simmons said. “It should not be how can we eliminate or slash polling locations in our county.”
“I don’t know how the people of Tarrant County will vote, and frankly, that’s none of my business how folks cast their ballot,” Simmons continued. “My responsibility as a county commissioner is to help ensure that they have reasonable access, convenient access to a place where they can vote, familiar access, places that they have gone for years. Republican, Democrat, Independent, it doesn’t matter the party.”
Residents and other elected officials also raised concerns about the reduction, with some saying the changes amount to voter suppression.
“Closing down a third of your polling locations doesn’t make sense,” Democrat state Rep. Vikki Goodwin said during the Aug. 4 meeting. “If it looks like voter suppression, if it sounds like voter suppression, it is voter suppression.”
Donna Reagan, a Tarrant County resident, also shared concerns, saying the trend of reducing polling sites is alarming.
“I realize that if this trend continues of suppressing the vote of populations you deem unworthy, by the time my grandkids are old enough to vote the obstacles may seem so insurmountable they don’t even register — which might be the point,” Reagan said.
After more than eight hours of public testimony Tuesday, County Judge Tim O’Hare and Commissioners Matt Krause and Manny Ramirez voted in favor of the revised plan. Commissioners Alisa Simmons and Roderick Miles Jr. voted against it.
O’Hare said in a statement to ABC News on Monday, a day before the vote, that the revised plan exceeded the statutory minimum for Election Day polling locations.
“The updated plan averages 2.85 miles between early voting locations and 1.56 miles between Election Day polling locations. All of this is accomplished without the wasteful practice of placing polling sites directly across the street from one another,” O’Hare said.
O’Hare also explained that some locations were changed because some buildings were either no longer operating or did not meet Americans with Disabilities Act requirements.
“State law also requires early voting equipment to be stored in a locked room,” he told ABC News. “Those are legislative requirements, and this county follows them. Every voter deserves a safe, accessible location with secure equipment, and this plan does that.”
Other officials in the state also pushed back against claims of voter suppression.
“We’re clearly not trying to suppress the vote,” Shaheen told The Associated Press. “That’s a silly accusation.”
Bastrop County Elections Administrator Kristin Mills also told AP that reducing polling sites can make sense, noting that there may be little reason to keep locations open in rural areas that serve only a handful of voters.
The approved plan will provide 224 Election Day vote centers and 47 early-voting locations for the November election.
Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026.
