Thirty miles east, Dallas County commissioners are also considering a list of polling sites Tuesday. Their proposal includes 85 early voting sites and 448 Election Day sites.<\/p>\n
Ludwig told commissioners last week his proposed map of sites concentrates<\/a> locations \u201cwhere voters choose to vote\u201d based on past election cycles and where facilities meet operational standards and disability accessibility requirements.\u00a0<\/p>\n The public comment period for residents to weigh in on the proposal started at about 12:30 p.m. More than 200 people signed up to speak at the meeting, a county staffer told the Report.\u00a0<\/p>\n Several speakers, including Cynnamon Hall, argued that commissioners should increase rather than decrease voting sites on one of the same premises the court\u2019s Republicans used to justify county redistricting<\/a> last summer: population growth. Hall also criticized the loss of polling sites in Black and brown neighborhoods across the county, such as the 76104<\/a> zip code, which would have no sites under the current proposal.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIf you accept this, you\u2019re basically saying that our votes don\u2019t matter,\u201d Hall said. \u201cAll votes matter. Vote \u2018no\u2019 on this.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Joan Gonzalez told commissioners she supports the proposal in the name of cutting costs for taxpayers, dismissing concerns about the reduction impacting voters\u2019 ability to cast a ballot.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cMy personal feeling is if you can find this commissioners court, you can find a polling place,\u201d Gonzalez said. \u201cYou have early voting also for weeks at a time.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Emeri Callaway, vice president of the Tarrant County Young Democrats, urged commissioners to restore the sites Ludwig proposed cutting, especially the MAC at UTA. They spoke of college students across the county calling the organization \u201cpanicking\u201d about where to vote.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThis should not be a controversial issue to add these locations. It should not be partisan,\u201d Callaway said. \u201cDo not make it hard for students of Tarrant County to vote on their campuses.\u201d<\/p>\n Commissioners were scheduled to finalize voting sites in early August, but agreed unanimously to table<\/a> the decision until September after agreeing that Ludwig\u2019s first proposal included too few sites. That list included 42 early voting sites and 176 on Election Day.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Aug. 4 commissioners court meeting drew dozens of speakers, the majority of whom testified against a reduction in polling sites and demanded an increase in sites to accommodate population growth since the 2022 midterms.<\/p>\n During the nearly seven-hour meeting, County Judge Tim O\u2019Hare made all attendees leave the courtroom after some speakers continued talking after their allotted time to address the courtroom ran out and others shouted or used profanity. One speaker was arrested and carried<\/a> out by his ankles and wrists. Another who left voluntarily was arrested<\/a> a week later.\u00a0<\/p>\n At the start of the Sept. 1 meeting, O\u2019Hare advised attendees to follow the commissioners court rules<\/a> of decorum they agree to follow when they sign up to speak during public comment. Those who violate the rules, which he read aloud, could be removed by sheriff deputies and possibly arrested, he warned.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe last thing I want to see is anybody removed from the chambers. The last thing I want to see is anybody arrested. The last thing I want to see is a circus,\u201d O\u2019Hare said. \u201cLast month, we had a circus.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n As of 3:45 p.m., O\u2019Hare had ordered one attendee who used profanity during his allotted time to speak to leave the meeting.<\/p>\n The county judge endorsed<\/a> Ludwig\u2019s new proposal last week shortly after it was released.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAs I\u2019ve said from day one, no Tarrant County voter should ever feel they don\u2019t have enough time to vote,\u201d O\u2019Hare said in a news release. \u201cThis is a sensible plan designed to ensure that, and I\u2019m grateful to our elections staff for the work that brought us here.\u201d<\/p>\n Democratic commissioners Alisa Simmons and Roderick Miles oppose the plan, saying it still does not offer enough sites for a county of Tarrant\u2019s size. They both expressed concerns that reducing sites could disenfranchise voters by making it harder to vote.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cA growing county should not be shrinking its access to democracy,\u201d Miles said in a news release last week. \u201cCounty officials are stewards of the electoral process, not its owners, and our responsibility is to ensure every eligible resident \u2014 including seniors, people with disabilities, working families and residents without transportation \u2014 has a fair opportunity to vote.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Simmons, O\u2019Hare\u2019s opponent on the November ballot, hosted a news conference<\/a> Sunday with State Rep. James Talarico of Austin, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senator. Both warned that cutting polling sites could reduce access for voters.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cDropping 92 Election Day polling places is crazy,\u201d Simmons said. \u201cWe should not compare this proposal to the worst proposal. We should compare it to access that Tarrant County voters actually had in 2022.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Last month, Fort Worth City Council members unanimously approved a resolution<\/a> opposing the proposed reduction in polling sites. They urged county officials to consider alternatives and ensure that voting sites are evenly distributed across the four commissioner precincts.\u00a0<\/p>\n Election Day is Nov. 3, and early voting is Oct. 19-30. The deadline to register<\/a> to vote is Oct. 5.\u00a0<\/p>\n This is a developing story and will continue to be updated. <\/p>\n Cecilia Lenzen is a government accountability reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact her at cecilia.lenzen@fortworthreport.org<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"(Christine](\"https:\/\/fortworthreport.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/20260901_CommissionersVotingSites-31-1024x683.jpg\")
Attendees listen to speakers during a Tarrant County Commissioners Court meeting Sept. 1, 2026, in Fort Worth. (Christine Vo | Fort Worth Report)<\/p>\n![\"(Christine](\"https:\/\/fortworthreport.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/20260901_CommissionersVotingSites-4-1024x683.jpg\")
Podcast host EJ Carrion speaks on polling sites during a news conference outside the Tarrant County Courthouse on Sept. 1, 2026, in Fort Worth. (Christine Vo | Fort Worth Report)<\/p>\n