{"id":473500,"date":"2026-10-22T15:46:32","date_gmt":"2026-10-22T15:46:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/473500\/"},"modified":"2026-10-22T15:46:32","modified_gmt":"2026-10-22T15:46:32","slug":"uta-students-protest-closed-voting-polls-as-wait-times-soar-in-several-tarrant-county-areas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/473500\/","title":{"rendered":"UTA students protest closed voting polls as wait times soar in several Tarrant County areas"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Dylan Duke | KERA News, Fort Worth Report
October 22, 2026<\/p>\n

Students at the University of Texas at Arlington on Wednesday protested Tarrant County\u2019s decision to remove 92 polling sites this year as complaints over voter line wait times increase.<\/p>\n

The students marched from the campus to the Tarrant County subcourthouse polling site, which had a wait time over 45 minutes, according to the county\u2019s own website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

An organizer of the protest, Emeri Callaway, called the county\u2019s move \u201cvoter suppression.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFor too long, the young people have been silenced,\u201d Callaway said. \u201cWe\u2019re standing up against that because we do matter.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"The estimated time it will take voters to cast their ballots at the polling locations around UTA.<\/p>\n

While there was a polling location at the Maverick Center at UTA<\/a> for years, it was left off a list of approved polling sites the Tarrant County Commissioners Court approved this year.<\/p>\n

Fort Worth residents sued<\/a> the county\u2019s elections administrator and Republican commissioners this month, but a judge upheld<\/a> the list.<\/p>\n

Tarrant County residents will now have 92 fewer polling locations on Election Day and three less during early voting.<\/p>\n

Supporters of the move say a reduction in polling sites saves the county money.<\/p>\n

Voter turnout in Tarrant County has been high so far. Over 50,000 people voted on the first day of early voting this week compared to about 29,000 in 2022.<\/p>\n

Polling locations are open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Oct. 19-23, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Oct. 24, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Oct. 25 and next week Oct. 26-30, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Election Day is Nov. 3.<\/p>\n

This <a target=”_blank” href=”https:\/\/fortworthreport.org\/2026\/10\/22\/uta-students-protest-closed-voting-polls-as-wait-times-soar-in-several-tarrant-county-areas\/”>article<\/a> first appeared on <a target=”_blank” href=”https:\/\/fortworthreport.org”>Fort Worth Report<\/a> and is republished here under a <a target=”_blank” href=”https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nd\/4.0\/”>Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License<\/a>.<img src=”https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/fortworthreport.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/cropped-favicon.png?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1″ style=”width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;”><\/p>\n

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