County Judge Tim O\u2019Hare and Election Administrator Clint Ludwig said the reductions aimed to save about $1 million in what is typically a low-turnout, nonpresidential election. Ludwig said he decided which polling sites to cut based on voter turnout in 2023, which saw about 12.5% registered voters cast ballots.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI would venture to guess 99% of the public cannot name a single thing on (the 2025 ballot),\u201d O\u2019Hare said at the time.<\/p>\n
At the Sept. 3 meeting, commissioners unanimously<\/a> approved spending $18,600 to renovate the Tarrant County Elections Administration building at 2700 Premier St. in Fort Worth. The renovations will make the center compliant with a new Texas law<\/a> requiring election equipment to be secured in a locked room overnight.<\/p>\n County staff had previously listed the law as a reason to cut several early voting locations, including at the University of Texas at Arlington, noting they could not easily meet the locked-room requirement.<\/p>\n Before the vote to renovate, Simmons said that while she supports ensuring secure elections, it is ironic that the county used the law as a reason to cut locations when its own centers did not meet the standards.<\/p>\n \u201cWe must ensure that the standards we apply to our communities are the ones we are already meeting ourselves,\u201d Simmons said.<\/p>\n She later said all of her proposed new locations were compliant with state law.<\/p>\n Residents advocate for additional locations<\/p>\n About a dozen attendees who signed up to speak waited four and a half hours into the meeting before the item came up. All but one spoke in favor of the new locations.<\/p>\n \u201cHow do you expect our elders \u2014 using their own canes, pushing walkers, riding wheelchairs across a sprawling city, across a sprawling city with a suspect transportation system \u2014 how do you expect them to endure bus after bus, connection after connection, just to cast a vote?\u201d said Michael Bell, a pastor and civil rights advocate. \u201cYou have turned a constitutional right into an obstacle course.\u201d<\/p>\n Ken Shimamoto criticized commissioners for reducing polling locations the same summer they voted to redraw the commissioners\u2019 precinct map<\/a> to dramatically favor a Republican candidate to replace Simmons, also noting the state\u2019s redrawing of its congressional map<\/a> that cut longtime Democratic Fort Worth Rep. Marc Veasy\u2019s District 33 out of the county.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThis is not an issue of cost. It is an issue of access,\u201d Shimamoto said.\u00a0<\/p>\n The lone speaker against the additional early voting locations, who declined to confirm his name, said he was in support of running the election in a fiscally conservative way.\u00a0<\/p>\n He said those pushing for the additional amendments were making \u201cDemocratic hoopla\u201d-based narratives about race he didn\u2019t think were true.<\/p>\n Generally, a confused voter is a nonvoter, Brandon Rottinghaus, a political science professor at the University of Houston, told the Report in August.<\/p>\n No single law dramatically impacts voter turnout, rather, it\u2019s the collective of ever-changing policies that can discourage people from voting, said Rottinghaus, who has studied poll placement and its impact on turnout.<\/p>\n \u201cThe more you move around how voting occurs, like the hours and the locations, the harder it is for voters to understand exactly what they\u2019re supposed to do and when,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The last day to register to vote for the November election is Oct. 6, and the last day to apply for a ballot by mail is Oct. 24. Early voting runs from Oct. 20 to Oct. 31.<\/p>\n What\u2019s on the ballot this November?<\/p>\n Texas voters will cast ballots for 17 constitutional amendments passed during the year\u2019s legislative session, including:<\/p>\n In a special election:<\/p>\n Drew Shaw is a government accountability reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at drew.shaw@fortworthreport.org<\/a> or @shawlings601<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here<\/a>.<\/p>\n \n\tRelated\n<\/p>\n Fort Worth Report is certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative<\/a> for adhering to standards for ethical journalism.<\/p>\n Republish This Story<\/p>\n\n
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