Tarrant County considers cutting number of voting locations in November election
This Election Day, polling locations could be two-thirds of what was available to voters four years ago. Early voting sites could be halved.
Tarrant County Commissioners will consider cutting the number of voting locations for the Nov. 4, 2025, constitutional amendment election and the special election to decide the Senate District 9 representative.
During the 2021 November constitutional amendment election, voters had 48 polling locations available to them for early voting and 323 sites for Election Day voting. In 2023, the early voting sites decreased to 44, but Election Day locations increased to 330.
Oftentimes, these elections don’t draw large crowds. For example, in 2023 only 12.48% of registered voters cast their ballots. Five sites had fewer than 300 people come to vote throughout the early voting period.
At their 10 a.m. meeting Tuesday, the commissioners could slice those numbers down to 24 early voting locations and 214 Election Day sites. Though there would be fewer overall, the locations are still dispersed evenly throughout the county.
Democratic Commissioner Alisa Simmons, of Arlington, has posted on social media calling for residents to speak out against this proposal at the meeting.
“This isn’t about logistics or cost saving; Republicans have to cheat to win and try to stay in power,” Simmons said in a TikTok video. “It’s about silencing minority voters, young voters, first-time voters, senior citizens and working voters. They were hoping you wouldn’t notice.”
She said this proposal removes all college voting sites — an idea shot down by the commissioners court in 2024.
Fort Worth council member Mia Hall also alerted the public of the potential change, saying it would leave Lake Como, Southside and Northside neighborhoods without a nearby early voting location. The closest one would be in downtown Fort Worth.
“While I understand the pressures of state regulations and budgetary constraints, disenfranchising entire communities is not an acceptable response,” Hall said in a release. “The scale of these proposed closures is too extreme and risks setting a troubling precedent for future elections.”
County Elections Administrator Clint Ludwig did not respond to the Star-Telegram’s questions about the decrease in polling locations.
Tracey Knight, chief of staff for Republican Commissioner Manny Ramirez of Fort Worth, said his office has not received an explanation from Ludwig about why the proposal was placed on the agenda or why the specific sites were chosen.
“Commissioner Ramirez looks forward to Clint’s presentation and a full discussion in court tomorrow,” Knight said via email.
This story was originally published August 18, 2025 at 2:59 PM.