Plan to cut number of polling sites in a major Texas county draws
protests as Senate race looms
[August 31, 2026]
By ANNA WILDER Associated Press/Report for America
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A plan in one of Texas' largest counties to use
dozens fewer polling locations than in previous years is drawing
protests from Democrats who say the reductions could create confusion in
the November midterm elections.
The proposal, set for a vote Tuesday, would reduce the number of polling
locations across booming Tarrant County, which borders Dallas and
includes Fort Worth. County officials say the plan would save resources
by eliminating low-turnout sites, noting voters would still have more
than 200 locations where they could cast ballots.
Texas' third-largest county is home to more than 2 million people and a
key battleground in the U.S. Senate race between Democratic state Rep.
James Talarico and Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton. On Sunday,
Talarico urged the county to reject the proposal.
“The most powerful people in this county, the most powerful people in
this country, don’t want us to be able vote easily,” Talarico said at a
news conference.
If the plan is approved, Tarrant County would have 92 fewer polling
locations on Election Day than it did during the 2022 midterms.
Closing polling locations in Texas is not a new trend, county elections
officials say. The trend has been accelerated by an embrace of
countywide voting sites and the difficulty in recruiting poll workers.
Other Texas counties have also considered or already reduced the number
of polling locations for November while some have added more.
“We’re clearly not trying to suppress the vote,” Rep. Matt Shaheen, the
Republican chairman of the House Elections Committee, said of polling
site reductions in Texas. “That’s a silly accusation.”
County says plan eliminates low-turnout sites
Tarrant County Elections Administrator Clint Ludwig has said the
reductions would allow the county to eliminate locations that serve few
people.
Locations near bus stops that complied with federal accessibility laws
were prioritized to remain open, according to a county statement.
Officials said the average distance between Election Day sites under the
plan was 1.5 mile (2.4 kilometers).
[to top of second column]
|
Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico, left, and Tarrant County
Commissioner Alisa Simmons arrive for a news conference at UTA,
Sunday, Aug. 30, 2026, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
“All of this is accomplished without the wasteful practice of
placing polling sites directly across the street from one other,”
said Tarrant County Judge Tim O’Hare, a Republican and the county’s
top administrator.
Spokespeople for Paxton did not respond to emails seeking comment.
Texas counties determine number of polling locations
Texas law lets each of the state’s 254 counties decide how many
polling places to use. Tarrant County adopted countywide voting in
2019 but didn’t immediately begin reducing the number of polling
locations.
On Friday, the NAACP and the American Civil Liberties Union joined
voting rights groups in signing a letter urging the county to reject
the proposal, saying the closures would be strongly felt in areas
with high percentages of minority voters. About a third of the
county’s residents are Hispanic, and about 19.2% are Black,
according to Census data.
Bastrop County Elections Administrator Kristin Miles, whose county
is outside Austin, said reducing the number of polling sites could
make sense, depending on how heavily they are used. Miles noted that
there would be little point, for instance, in opening sites in rural
areas that may only serve a handful of voters throughout the day.
Carol Raburn, who worked the March primaries as an election judge in
Tarrant County, called the proposal a form of voter suppression.
"Because what happens when people don’t have a convenient place to
go vote that’s not too far away from where they are, where they
live? They just don’t go vote because they’ve made it so difficult,”
she said.
__
Wilder is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America
Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit
national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms
to report on undercovered issues.
All contents © copyright 2026 Associated Press. All rights reserved |
