Fort Worth City Council members voted unanimously Tuesday to oppose a reduction in Tarrant County voting sites for the November midterm elections.
Council members urged Tarrant County commissioners, who approve the list of sites, to consider alternatives to a reduction proposed by the county elections administrator and to ensure that voting sites are equitably distributed across the county.
Their resolution comes one week after commissioners were scheduled to finalize a list of voting sites. Commissioners ultimately delayed the decision until September after agreeing that the proposal included too few sites.
“Elections have consequences. They are incredibly important, and it is our job to make sure that we get as many people to the polls as we can, to have their voices heard,” council member Elizabeth Beck said.
The resolution adopted by council members described the right to vote as “the cornerstone of our democracy” that should never be made harder to exercise.
Last week, commissioners instructed elections administrator Clint Ludwig to revise his proposal, which would have eliminated 45% of the Election Day polling sites used for the 2022 midterms, cutting the total from 316 to 176. Early voting sites would have been reduced from 50 used in 2022 to 42 this year.
About 1.3 million people are registered to vote in Tarrant County. Unusually high voter turnout during the March primaries, which determined Republican and Democratic nominees for the November ballot, could be an indicator of increased voter engagement this fall as well, political scientists previously told the Fort Worth Report.
More than 70 races on the Tarrant County ballot in November. Here are the nominees
Fort Worth City Council positions are not on the ballot. All 11 seats, including mayor, are up for election in May.
Council members emphasized Tuesday that although they have no authority over the list of voting sites, they felt it was their duty to ensure that Fort Worth residents have ample opportunity to vote in November.
“When you are duly elected, at some point we have to call on other elected officials to do what is right,” council member Chris Nettles said.
In August of last year, council members Carlos Flores and Mia Hall spoke out individually against a proposal to reduce voting sites for the November election that featured amendments to the state constitution and a Texas Senate seat representing Tarrant County.
For that election, commissioners ended up cutting more than 100 polling sites, many of which were located in predominantly Black and Hispanic neighborhoods represented by Hall and Flores. The council members argued last year that the reductions would make it harder to cast a ballot for voters of color who might have multiple jobs and unreliable transportation.
“Convenient and also well-equipped polling locations (are) necessary to ensure that we get as much turnout as possible,” Flores said Tuesday.
Election Day is Nov. 3, and early voting runs Oct. 19-30. The deadline to register to vote is Oct. 5.
Cecilia Lenzen is a government accountability reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact her at cecilia.lenzen@fortworthreport.org.
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