Amid public outcry, Texas county cuts polling locations ahead of 2026 midterms

Officials in Texas' third most populous county voted on Tuesday to reduce polling locations by 92.The move will see Tarrant County's voting sites reduced from 316 in the 2022 midterm elections to 224 for this year's elections.Tuesday's vote took place during a meeting of the five-member Commissioner's Court, which is the governing body of the county.The Tarrant County Election Center is shown in Fort Worth, Texas.Google Maps Street ViewIt came amid public outcry from dozens of residents opposing the measure during public meetings over the past month."People have fought and died for the right to vote," Tarrant County resident Catherine Godby said.She said it's "wrong to suppress" the right to vote."You're on the wrong side of history," she said. "You're dishonoring what it means to be an American, and more than that, you're losing your humanity."Democratic commissioners Alisa Simmons and Rodrick Miles Jr. voted against the cuts, while the Republicans on the court -- County Judge Tim O'Hare and commissioners Matt Krause and Manny Ramirez -- voted for the proposal.Tarrant County election judge Carol Radburn talks in front of a UTA campus voting site proposed to be closed for upcoming elections in Arlington, Texas, on Aug. 26, 2026.LM Otero/AP PhotoThe vote on Tuesday came a year after the board approved a proposal that cut nearly half of all early voting locations in the county ahead of 2025 election, according to Dallas ABC station WFAA.Republicans in favor of the measure argued that the number of polling locations after the cuts would still meet the mandatory minimum. They also cited efforts to cut costs, citing low voter turnout at various polling locations.O'Hare, who vote for the measure, told ABC News in a statement on Monday that under the new proposal, there will still be 54 polling places that exceed the statutory minimum for Election Day."The updated plan averages 2.85 miles between early voting locations and 1.56 miles between Election Day polling locations. All of this is accomplished without the wasteful practice of placing polling sites directly across the street from one another," O'Hare said.The county judge said "some locations changed for practical reasons," including some buildings no longer operating and some not meeting Americans with Disabilities Act requirements.Popular Reads"State law also requires early voting equipment to be stored in a locked room," he added. "Those are legislative requirements, and this county follows them. Every voter deserves a safe, accessible location with secure equipment, and this plan does that."Miles, one of Democratic commissioners, told ABC News in a statement on Monday that he intends to oppose the proposal because it reduces polling locations overall."Our population hasn't shrunk. Our electorate hasn't shrunk. I need a clear, convincing explanation for why a growing county is providing meaningfully fewer places to vote and I haven't gotten one yet," he said."Our job isn't to calculate the fewest locations we can legally operate. It's to make sure every eligible resident has a fair and meaningful opportunity to vote. The legal minimum cannot become the moral standard," he added.Tarrant County, which is in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, has more than 2.2 million residents, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, and 1.3 million registered voters, county data shows.The county, which has a growing Hispanic population, is about 40% white, 31% Hispanic and Latino, 19% Black and 7% Asian, the 2025 U.S. Census numbers show."The minimum is never my standard, and it should not be a standard of a county this size," Simmons, who voted against the proposal, said during a press conference on Sunday.Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico, right, speaks with Tarrant County Commissioner Alisa Simmons during a news conference at UTA, Aug. 30, 2026, in Arlington, Texas.Lm Otero/AP PhotoTexas state Rep. James Talarico, the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate running against Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, also expressed opposition to the proposal during the press conference on Sunday."It's nearly a third of the polling locations in Tarrant County, and that means on election day there will be longer commutes, longer lines and lower voter turnout, especially in our Black and brown communities," he said.Krause, who voted for the proposal, pushed back on the argument that reducing voting locations would suppress the vote, telling ABC News in a statement on Monday that the new proposal "unequivocally" gives all of the county's registered voters the opportunity to exercise their Democratic right."There are voting locations within close proximity to most everyone in Tarrant County," he added.