Extra voting time for SD9 race is possible. Here’s what would have to happen
Any plans to vote over the weekend for the Senate District 9 run-off election were frozen due to the winter storm that iced over North Texas. Tuesday is the last scheduled day for early voting before Election Day on Saturday, Jan. 31.
In the midst of the snowy weekend, Tarrant County decided to close all polling locations Sunday. On Monday, six of the total 22 early voting sites were closed. Some delayed opening their doors due to the weather conditions.
Polling locations are scheduled to be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday.
Because of pandemic-era legislative changes, the ability to add early voting days is gone.
The runoff between Republican Leigh Wambsganss and Democrat Taylor Rehmet has already brought out thousands of voters. The two are vying to represent much of the county until the winner of a general election in November takes office in 2027. Early voting ends Jan. 27; Election Day is Jan. 31.
The winner of the election will fill the seat vacated by Kelly Hancock, who left the state Senate to become acting comptroller.
There is a possibility that polling locations will stay open later Tuesday evening to make up for the closures, but that is up to the district court. People can file a petition, signed by a district court judge, to extend the hours on Tuesday.
If that happens, all voting after 7 p.m. Tuesday would be considered provisional, meaning the ballots can be cast, but they may not count.
A normal example of a provisional ballot is when someone’s address on their license does not match up with that of their voter registration. Any time someone goes to a polling location to vote, and the clerks are unsure if that person can vote, they are given a provisional ballot. Those ballots are then presented to a ballot board to determine whether the ballot should count.
The Tarrant County Democratic Party decided not to file a petition to extend the early voting location hours because of the potential for human bias in the decision if the certain votes will be counted or not.
Tarrant GOP Chair Tim Davis said the party’s final decision has not yet been made.
“We’re still continuing to monitor the weather and the effect it’s having on turnout,” Davis said. “No decisions have been made at this time. We’ll also have to consider the election calendar itself, as set out in the Governor’s order, and the need to transition voting equipment to prepare for election day voting locations.”
In the first three days of the early voting, starting Jan. 21, roughly 12,000 ballots were cast each day. On Saturday, only 421 people voted.
Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday at one of the 129 Election Day locations.
Check the Tarrant County wait time map to see if locations are open.
This story was originally published January 26, 2026 at 3:16 PM.