Voter registration volunteers once again not allowed inside Tarrant County buildings
After approving a list of early voting sites that includes eight college campuses, the Tarrant County Commissioners Court voted along party lines to rescind a court order that allowed voter registration volunteers back into county buildings.
The court voted 3-1 on Sept. 4 to approve an amendment allowing volunteers to register voters in county buildings. Precinct 4 Commissioner Manny Ramirez was absent for that vote.
Precinct 3 Commissioner Gary Fickes, a Republican, voted to approve the amendment alongside his Democratic colleagues Commissioners Roy Charles Brooks and Alisa Simmons.
O’Hare questioned Fickes’ vote at that meeting, but the commissioner said he intended to vote yes.
Fickes also told reporters after the Sept. 4 meeting that he voted as he intended to yes and had no intention of changing it.
Despite that, Fickes said Thursday that he had made a mistake and had immediately gone to ask County Administrator Chandler Merritt what he needed to do to change his vote.
For the Republicans on the court, the issue was not about the county allowing volunteer deputy registrars, or VDRs, to register voters in county buildings, but rather stopping members of partisan organizations from doing so.
Speaking during public comments ahead of the vote, Daniel Taylor, who is a VDR in Tarrant County, asked commissioners not to revoke the amendment.
“I would still like to know from you all what harm it could possibly do for VDRs to work inside county buildings like sub-courthouses,” said Taylor, who volunteers for the Battleground Texas Engagement Fund.
That group is a nonpartisan voter registration section of the nonprofit organization Battleground Texas, which expresses anti-Republican goals on its website.
Speaking in favor of rescinding the amendment, Fort Worth resident Amie Super noted that Battleground Texas is clearly a partisan organization.
She pointed to statements on the its website, which states that people are “tired of the same Republican playbook which is failing our communities and ignoring the needs of countless Texans” and that “once Texas goes blue,” a Republican will never make it back into the White House.
“Tell me that’s not partisan. That’s pretty clear to me,” she said.
The court also voted 4-1, with Simmons opposing, to not allow Battleground Texas and another voter registration group named Jolt Initiative to use county buildings to register voters.
A third organization, Texas Freedom Network, had been on the agenda, but it withdrew its request before the meeting.
