FORT WORTH, Texas — After a heated exchange over polling locations on college campuses, Tarrant County Commissioners failed to approve a list of early voting sites Tuesday.
The motion to approve the list of sites, which included nine on university and community college campuses, failed on a 2-2 vote which fell along party lines. Precinct 4 Commissioner Manny Ramirez was not present for the vote.
County Judge Tim O'Hare raised concerns that polling locations on college campuses were inaccessible to the public and would force voters to pay for parking.
O'Hare also asked if the election administration could find the number of voters from outside of the campus who voted at those university polling locations. He argued that having multiple polling locations close together within the same precinct was "a waste of money and manpower."
However, early voting data from the 2020 presidential elections show that nearly 10% of voters who voted early in Tarrant County cast their ballot at college campuses. In all 65,975 voters cast their ballot at college campuses in Tarrant County.
Ludwig told commissioners that finding early election locations can be a challenge, many potential polling places don't want to allow access to their building all day for several days. When asked how many early polling locations Tarrant County needs to accommodate voters, Ludwig said "as many as we can get."
In Dallas County, 10 college campuses serve as polling locations and 12% of early voters cast their ballots there, about 89,500 people.
Republican Party Chair Bo French said that polling locations on college campuses provide an unfair advantage to Democrats, citing voter demographics.
"I don't believe that is the role of the commissioners court to go make sure we get more of this group to vote or get more of that group to vote," O'Hare said.
Democratic Commissioner Roy Brooks and Alisa Simmons pushed back against O'Hare saying that college campuses have successfully provided opportunities for students and residents to conveniently cast their ballot.
"It's trying to make it easier to vote, and that is the job of this commissioners court to make it easier for people to vote," Brooks said.
Brooks called eliminating the university polling sites "an act of voter suppression."
"Access is the issue here and it is the responsibility of this commissioner's court to make voting accessible to all of the public," Simmons said.
Later in the same meeting, O'Hare was the lone dissenting vote on the list of voting day sites. He argued the list was not balanced between majority Democrat and majority Republican precincts.
