Why did Fort Worth election sites get cut? To sway Tarrant County vote | Opinion
Tarrant County was going to have an election and leave Fort Worth almost totally out.
But that’s nothing new. At the county courthouse, Fort Worth always gets left out.
That’s basically what happened when county administrators and County Judge Tim O’Hare of Southlake tried to push a list of early-voting centers for the Nov. 4 Texas Senate election.
Voters north of Loop 820 had more early-voting centers than they have Chili’s restaurants.
They had eight, including Bedford, Colleyville, Grapevine, Keller and Southlake.
But voters in central Fort Worth neighborhoods had zero.
Until commissioners revised the list, you wouldn’t have been able to vote early like usual Oct. 20 at a Fort Worth subcourthouse, community center or senior center.
All of central Fort Worth had only two early-voting locations.
One was upstairs in a county office building downtown.
The other was the county election office in an obscure industrial area off Northeast 28th Street.
For perspective, in 2021, Tarrant County offered early voting in central Fort Worth at nine locations. In 2023, there were eight.
That’s a 75% cut.
If you haven’t figured it out by now, this is all part of a systematic effort to leave Fort Worth out of county government.
See, Fort Worth is an urban city that simply doesn’t appeal to the suburban snobs who run the courthouse.
Think about it. When was the last time you saw your county judge, district attorney or top county administrators out at a Fort Worth community center or neighborhood event?
They seem almost frightened to be seen in a city.
Life is much more comfortable in the land of fake “town centers” and luxury SUVs.
For the most part, county officials are completely snubbing Fort Worth.
As far as I can tell, not a single countywide elected official and almost no top administrators even live in central Fort Worth.
To them, Fort Worth doesn’t exist. It’s only the purplish-blue city where they work.
So it was easy to draw up a list of voting centers that saves money.
They just completely left out any central Fort Worth neighborhoods, including those in the Senate district on the ballot.
How did we get here?
First, we elected a county judge who grew up in suburban Dallas, moved to Southlake and has never been a city business or community leader in any way.
Then we rewarded partisan political campaigns full of newcomer activists from outlying suburbs. Some don’t even know where to find the courthouse.
(It’s at 100 W. Weatherford St. At least one of those candidates now holds office.)
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County election administrator Clint Ludwig said he was just trying to save money and open the “bare minimum” number of voting centers.
But I have never heard anybody say, “You know, there are too many places to vote.”
Ludwig also said he was working at the direction of commissioners. Yet the four commissioners seemed surprised.
But I have an idea why the list was cut.
The election Nov. 4 primarily involves the north half of Tarrant County, choosing a replacement for now-Comptroller Kelly Hancock in a Texas Senate seat that is one of the most powerful offices in the state.
That election matches Southlake Republican Leigh Wambsganss against two candidates with notable Fort Worth support, Southlake Republican John Huffman and Fort Worth Democrat Taylor Rehmet.
See? If Fort Worth voters are able to get to the polls, they might not vote exactly the way some county officials want.
So they tried to cut out Fort Worth votes.
This story was originally published August 21, 2025 at 10:33 AM.
