The discussion on reducing the number of early voting locations ignited a week of intense debate and hours of public comment at a special meeting of the Tarrant County Commissioners. NBC 5’s Tahara Rahman reports that college campuses have emerged as key players in this controversy.
In an hours-long meeting with many heated moments, Tarrant County Commissioners voted 4 to 1 to pass the original list of proposed early voting locations presented at their last meeting, plus an additional site added by the elections administrator.
Elected Tarrant County Judge Tim O'Hare (R) said he initially called the special meeting after Commissioner Gary Fickes said he was confused and misvoted during their last meeting on Sep. 4.
O'Hare said he checked in with all commissioners before scheduling the meeting. Commissioners Alisa Simmons and Roy Brooks, both Democrats, were in Washington, D.C., on a long-planned trip.
“If Commissioner Brooks wanted to be here, he could have. He had another commitment, apparently, that he thinks is more important than this. I’m not judging whether it is or isn’t," O'Hare said to a chorus of boos from the assembled crowd. "There will be no more outbursts. That was not meant to be an insult to Commissioner Brooks.”
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O'Hare added that he would have moved the meeting's timing had Brooks asked, but he didn't.
In the end, both Simmons and Brooks joined the meeting virtually.
“I recessed the board of directors meeting I was chairing just so I can come in here and I was told to cast a vote," Brooks said.
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On the agenda were three proposals for early voting locations, each trimmed down from the initial list of 50 locations proposed during last week's meeting. Each list also had at least one college campus knocked out.
Elections Administrator Clint Ludwig explained the differences:
- In option 1, Ludwig looked at locations within 1.5 miles of each other, took out the one with lower voter turnout, and added one in an area with a gap.
- In option 2, he removed the five lowest turnout locations and added one in an area with a gap.
- In option 3, Ludwig came up with the same number of early voting locations in each precinct.
O'Hare discussed why he supported the shorter lists, knocking out some college campuses due to lower turnout.
He estimated that only about 3% of the 18-24-year-old age group will probably show up to vote.
“Yet, the list you provided, 16% of the early voting locations are college campuses," O'Hare said, referring to the original list of 50 locations.
"So, if you want to talk about suppressing voters, this suppresses senior citizens," he added to more boos from the crowd.
He pointed out that only three senior centers, out of more than 30 in the county, were on the early voting list.
“I hear all this chatter about voter suppression going on for requiring a college kid that may not even be registered in Tarrant County to walk the equivalent of about six-tenths of a mile to vote, and then you’re suppressing their vote if you don’t allow, it is literally the most ludicrous thing I’ve ever heard," O'Hare said.
O'Hare also said it's unfair to cities like Keller and Southlake with only one voting location.
“It’s also not equal to have 16% of our early voting locations at locations that are obviously targeted to try to get out the college vote," he said. “I just don’t think it’s right or fair for people in one part of the county to have a voting location every 22 miles and another part of the county, not coincidentally, Democratic precincts, to have locations less than half a mile apart.”
O'Hare said at some point, they have to consider costs.
“By reducing the use of college campuses as polling places and moving them to more accessible locations, we’re solving two problems at once: Accessibility and cost," agreed Daniel Eldred, a student speaker who said he opposed college campus early voting locations.
Opponents accused O'Hare of being partisan and trying to suppress young voters who tend to lean left, a small fraction of voters but enough to swing an election, they said.
Public commenter Yaseen Tasnif called O'Hare's suggestions a "weak attempt to cover your blatant racism and thinly veiled attempt at voter suppression."
They argued that making voting more accessible to others could be done by adding more locations, offering transportation to polling locations, and making it easier to vote by mail.
Simmons and supporters of keeping college campus sites also said population needs to be taken into account, not just geography, and the population of UTA, for example, is bigger than many Tarrant County cities.
“UTA has been a site for … 15, 16 years. This sounds like manufactured chaos," Simmons said.
They also argued that closing down college voting sites would create overflow at nearby centers, burdening students and others.
In the end, those arguments won out, with all commissioners voting to approve the original list of 50 early voting locations, plus one added by the elections administrator.
“I think that we have to have more objective criteria, we have to have better reasoning whenever we’re selecting sites, but again, reducing the number is not a priority," said Commissioner Manny Ramirez, who motioned to vote on the 51 locations.
O'Hare was the only vote against the list.
The portion of the meeting that started with boos ended in cheers.
“We couldn’t be more thrilled," said Stacy Melo, who supported keeping college campus early voting locations.
The vote was a public clash between Tarrant Republican leaders.
After the meeting, Tarrant County GOP chair Bo French posted on X, “The Tarrant GOP activists and voters will not forget which of our elected officials stood with them and which of them chose to side with the leftist mob.”
Those against cutting early voting sites said now, their focus would turn to Election Day.
"Today is just another win for democracy, and we’ll keep fighting for it," said Tony Pham, a UT Arlington alum.
NBC 5 reached out to O’Hare for a response to the vote but has not yet received a response.
