Tarrant County commissioners meet September 1 before approving 224 Election Day vote centers for the November election. | Image via Tarrant County Commissioners Court recording.
Tarrant County commissioners approved a revised election plan Tuesday that consolidates underused polling places into 224 Election Day vote centers, a move supporters said would improve election administration, strengthen election integrity and make better use of taxpayer dollars.
The county will operate 224 Election Day vote centers for the November 3 election, 92 fewer than it used during the 2022 midterms. Commissioners separately approved 47 early-voting locations, down from 50 in 2022.
Tarrant County Judge Tim O’Hare and Commissioners Matt Krause of Precinct 3 and Manny Ramirez of Precinct 4, all Republicans, backed both lists in 3-2 votes. Democratic Commissioners Alisa Simmons of Precinct 2 and Roderick Miles Jr. of Precinct 1 opposed them.
Tarrant County uses countywide vote centers, which allow any registered county voter to cast an Election Day ballot at any listed location. Elections Administrator Clint Ludwig said the revised plan concentrates workers and equipment at locations voters have historically used and at facilities that meet operational and federal accessibility requirements.
The approved plan expands an earlier proposal for 176 Election Day locations and 42 early-voting sites. Commissioners postponed that proposal in August, then added 48 Election Day centers and five early-voting locations before Tuesday’s vote.
The vote followed a heated Commissioners Court meeting that drew residents and activists from both sides of the debate. The political divide was visible outside the Tarrant County Courthouse, where left-wing activists rallied against the plan while members of Mercy Culture gathered in support of Republican commissioners and prayed for the county and O’Hare.
Supporters point to turnout data and staffing
New Beginnings Church Pastor Troy Jackson argued that election integrity includes both access to voting and responsible stewardship of taxpayer dollars.
“Election integrity means protecting both ballot access and the taxpayer,” Jackson said.
Jackson gave commissioners a fact sheet identifying sites with low Election Day turnout in 2022. County records show 37 voters at Kingdom Manifesters Church, 83 at Rising Star Baptist Church and 134 at Paul Laurence Dunbar High School.
“When voting centers are close together, historically underutilized locations, these locations can be and should be combined because there is no reason why we’re not looking at the actual data,” Jackson said.
Karen Wiseman also supported the plan, pointing to the difficulty of finding enough qualified election workers. “As far as the polling locations only about 30% of the people voted on election day in 2022,” Wiseman told commissioners.
Wiseman said her experience working on the ballot board showed the consequences of spreading a limited pool of trained workers across too many locations. She argued that inexperienced workers can make ballot-processing errors that prevent votes from counting.
“I mean, we’ve got to have good workers,” Wiseman said.
Opponents cite access and longer lines
Opponents warned that fewer locations could produce longer lines and make voting less convenient. Arlington resident Carol Raburn urged commissioners to restore a voting location at the University of Texas at Arlington.
Raburn said she served as an election judge during a recent primary at another Arlington location that processed 913 voters despite shortages of equipment and poll workers.
“At 7 o’clock, when we shut the doors, we had 200 people in line waiting to vote. We didn’t finish until 9:30,” Raburn told commissioners. “We were way overloaded with voters, and that’s not acceptable.”
Raburn said more than 200 voters from the UTA area used that location. Simmons moved to add the university’s Maverick Activities Center and other sites, but her proposals failed.
Supporters said consolidating lightly used locations would allow election officials to concentrate qualified workers and equipment at higher-demand sites. Opponents maintained that fewer locations could increase congestion and reduce convenient access to voting.
The dispute follows a similar debate over Tarrant County voting locations in 2025, as previously reported by The Dallas Express. Early voting for the November election runs from October 19 through October 30. The voter-registration deadline is October 5.