Republican officials were set to vote on a plan Tuesday to cut almost half of Election Day voting locations in a major Texas battleground county that has shifted blue in recent years.\u00a0<\/p>\n
They also planned to cut eight early voting locations, some on college campuses.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But that all changed at the last moment, when Republican officials were faced with a massive backlash from outraged voters who packed the meeting room \u2014 and two overflow rooms \u2014 to demand that their voting locations remain open.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Voters blasted GOP officials for proposing a plan that would reduce Election Day polls from 316 locations in the 2022 midterms to just 176 locations this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Tarrant County resident Harriet Harrell, one of the furious public speakers at Tuesday\u2019s meeting, called the proposal \u201cmorally reprehensible.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho made these decisions? What criteria were used? Why wasn\u2019t there citizen input? What\u2019s the impact on voters? Which sites were eliminated and why?\u201d Harrell asked, highlighting the county\u2019s complete lack of transparency about the cuts.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Traditionally a safe GOP stronghold, Tarrant County, which includes Fort Worth, is the 14th largest county in the U.S., home to 2.2 million residents. It has become a high-stakes battleground as it increasingly votes for Democrats. Half of the county\u2019s population is now Black and Latino, according to the Census.<\/p>\n
Last year, the county also became the nation\u2019s redistricting canary in the coal mine. Tarrant County Republicans hired Public Interest Legal Foundation, a national anti-voting law firm, to oversee a mid-decade gerrymander to dismantle<\/a> one of two seats on the county governing body held by Democrats. They hired Adam Kincaid, the national GOP\u2019s leading mapmaker, to draw the map. Tarrant County voters fought back, accusing Republicans of passing what amounted to a clear racial gerrymander. However, a federal court upheld<\/a> the map.<\/p>\n