Before his removal, Burnam had picked up the microphone and turned around to address the audience during his allotted speaking time. When O\u2019Hare told him to set the microphone down, the former state representative who is a frequent speaker at commissioners court meetings, continued speaking, then lay down on the floor when deputies attempted to remove him. Deputies told him he was under arrest.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Less than half an hour before Burnam\u2019s arrest, O\u2019Hare ordered sheriff deputies to remove everyone from the courtroom except for county staff and reporters.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Several meeting attendees had clapped after one speaker criticized how O\u2019Hare runs the commissioners court, the county\u2019s governing body. O\u2019Hare instructed sheriff deputies, who provide security in the courtroom, to \u201cclear the entire chambers now.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Earlier in the meeting, O\u2019Hare had a speaker removed after he yelled and used profanity during his scheduled time to speak.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI told you how it was going to go, so we\u2019re in recess until the chambers are clear,\u201d O\u2019Hare said after ordering attendees to exit the room.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"(Christine](\"https:\/\/fortworthreport.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/20260804_CommissionersCourt-3-1024x683.jpg\")
Attendees chant after being removed from the Tarrant County Commissioners Court on Aug. 4, 2026, in Fort Worth. (Christine Vo | Fort Worth Report)<\/p>\n
Residents loudly protested O\u2019Hare\u2019s orders, standing up and chanting \u201cshame.\u201d As deputies herded people out of the room, they continued chanting, \u201cVote them out,\u201d referring to the court\u2019s GOP members, O\u2019Hare and commissioners Matt Krause and Manny Ramirez.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The proposal to reduce voting sites that commissioners are considering would cut the number of Election Day sites to 176 \u2014\u00a0about a 45% decrease from 316 day-of voting sites available in the 2022 midterms. For early voting, there would be 42 polling sites instead of the 50 available in 2022.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Before attendees were removed, several speakers criticized the proposed reduction, saying it would disenfranchise voters by making it harder to cast a ballot.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Patrice Jones, vice chair of the Tarrant County Democratic Party, told the Fort Worth Report she wasn\u2019t concerned about the demonstration having an impact on the outcome of the commissioners\u2019 vote on polling sites. If anything, she said, she felt encouraged by the show of opposition and solidarity from the other attendees and speakers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t come here today and think I was going to change anybody sitting to the right of Tim O\u2019Hare,\u201d Jones said. \u201cBut we came back to let them know we\u2019re still going to be willing to put up a fight.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Outside the courtroom, meeting attendees shouted chants such as, \u201cTiny Tim has got to go\u201d and \u201cVote for Alisa.\u201d O\u2019Hare is on the ballot<\/a> in November, and his opponent is Democratic Commissioner Alisa Simmons.\u00a0<\/p>\n \nhttps:\/\/www.instagram.com\/reel\/Dbobng8Jntu\/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==\n<\/p>\n After the recess to remove attendees, O\u2019Hare resumed the meeting by announcing that speakers would be brought into the courtroom one at a time when it was their turn to address the court. Speakers were allowed to sit in the audience again after their remarks. O\u2019Hare warned that if there were \u201cmore disruptions,\u201d he would clear the courtroom again, adding that sheriff deputies would arrest anyone who disrupted the meeting.<\/p>\n \u201cMy hope is that no one is arrested the rest of this day,\u201d O\u2019Hare said. \u201cMy hope is we do this in a peaceful, orderly, civil fashion. But again, that will be up to the people that are coming into the room.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Following that, O\u2019Hare had another speaker removed in addition to Burnam.\u00a0<\/p>\n This is a developing story.\u00a0<\/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 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 This <a target=”_blank” href=”https:\/\/fortworthreport.org\/2026\/08\/04\/tarrant-county-judge-removes-attendees-during-public-meeting-about-voting-site-reductions\/”>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&ssl=1″ style=”width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;”><\/p>\n <img id=”republication-tracker-tool-source” src=”https:\/\/fortworthreport.org\/?republication-pixel=true&post=710359&ga4=2820184429″ style=”width:1px;height:1px;”><script> PARSELY = { autotrack: false, onload: function() { PARSELY.beacon.trackPageView({ url: “https:\/\/fortworthreport.org\/2026\/08\/04\/tarrant-county-judge-removes-attendees-during-public-meeting-about-voting-site-reductions\/”, urlref: window.location.href }); } } <\/script> <script id=”parsely-cfg” src=”\/\/cdn.parsely.com\/keys\/fortworthreport.org\/p.js”><\/script>