Republicans say the plan improves efficiency and saves money. Democrats say it’s an attempt to suppress Black and brown voters. A group of voters is suing Tarrant County and its Republican leaders to force them to restore nearly 100 polling places they cut ahead of the midterm elections. The lawsuit argues the cuts disenfranchise more than 1 million registered voters in Tarrant County, with the heaviest burden on Black and Hispanic communities, many of whom live in Fort Worth.
Four women — city councilwoman Deborah Peoples, former city councilwoman Kathleen Hicks, and retired judge Maryellen Hicks, who are all Black, and elected Fort Worth ISD trustee Camille Rodriguez, who is Hispanic — filed the suit Friday in district court. The reduction in voting sites could mean longer commutes and waits to cast a ballot and lower voter turnout on Election Day, particularly in low-income and Black and brown neighborhoods, Peoples told The Dallas Morning News Friday.
“Everyone deserves the right to vote,” Peoples said. “I am sick and tired of being sick and tired. This is clearly voter suppression.”
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Nick Maddux, a campaign strategist for Tarrant County Judge Tim O’Hare, said commissioners approved a plan that gives “voters ample ability to ensure they are able to cast their votes.”
“This is a clear political stunt by failing far left Democrats who want to sow chaos and baseless lies into our community,” Maddux said in a statement. Elections Administrator Clint Ludwig, who drafted the plan, did not immediately respond to phone calls Friday afternoon seeking comment. The lawsuit also names county commissioners Matt Krause and Manny Ramirez, who did not immediately respond to emails or phone calls.
The lawsuit comes one month after commissioners voted 3-2 over the objections of dozens of residents to cut the number of Election Day voting sites from 316 in 2022 to 224 on Nov. 3. It also cut early voting sites from 50 to 47.
Before that plan, commissioners considered an even bigger reduction in polling places, but they backed off after an uproar from residents.
Republicans said the move saves money and improves efficiency. O’Hare previously called the plan sensible and said that “no Tarrant County voter should feel they don’t have enough time to vote.”
Ludwig said at the time he used past election data to concentrate polling sites “where voters choose to vote.”
Voting rights advocates denounced the cuts, and the court’s two Democratic members, Alisa Simmons and Roderick Miles, voted against the plan. Simmons is running against O’Hare for county judge. Tarrant County is home to 1.3 million registered voters. In comparison, Dallas County has more than 1.4 million registered voters and nearly twice as many polling places.
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Tarrant County is considered a prime midterm battleground, with candidates and political action committees pouring substantial time and money into Fort Worth and the surrounding suburbs.
Several communities will be disproportionately affected by the cuts, the suit says.
For example, in 2022, the 76103 ZIP Code, a predominantly Black and Hispanic neighborhood in East Fort Worth where Peoples lives, had three polling places, the suit says. All three were cut this November. The closest site is now about a mile away.
In the 76115 ZIP Code, which is largely Black and Hispanic in south Fort Worth, four of the five polling places were cut, according to the suit. The lawsuit says commissioners removed 46 polling sites that each had more than 500 voters in 2022, a violation of the county’s own methodology. Texas requires counties to adopt criteria for selecting voting locations.
“We should be making it easier for all people to vote, rather than making it harder,” Peoples said. “This isn’t right. This could not go unchallenged.”
Meanwhile, according to the lawsuit, commissioners added polling locations in areas with substantially lower Black and Hispanic populations, including around far north Fort Worth and Keller.
A hearing is scheduled for Oct. 7 in Tarrant County district court.
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