Tarrant County commissioners will review a proposed list of early voting and Election Day voting locations for the Nov. 3 election in September.
Commissioners unanimously approved tabling consideration for finalizing the list of voting locations during the Aug. 4 meeting.
The details
Prior to consideration of the proposed voting locations, Tarrant County Elections Administrator Clinton Ludwig presented a consolidation of the county’s voting precincts from 707 to 340, which was approved by a 3-2 vote with Precinct 2 Commissioner Alisa Simmons and Precinct 1 Commissioner Roderick Miles Jr. voting against.
Ludwig said state law requires the county to have a number of polling locations that is at least half of the number of voting precincts. This meant that Tarrant County would need at least 170 polling locations, but a few extra were added, which led to the 176 proposed polling places for Election Day voting.
The proposed 176 locations are a 44.3% decrease from the 316 in-person voting locations that were used for the 2022 midterm elections. The number of proposed early voting locations for 2026 was 42, which is a decrease from the 50 in 2022.
Tarrant County has nearly 1.33 million registered voters, according to county data. In November, voters will cast ballots in a number of local, county, state and federal races, including Tarrant County judge and the Tarrant Appraisal District.
Some context
Ludwig said his staff typically bakes in an increase between 10% and 15% for turnout for each election, but because of higher voter turnout, the increase was upped to 40%. Even under the higher expected turnout, Ludwig said the 176 polling locations would be sufficient for Election Day voting.
Additionally, county commissioners approved a cut in the number of polling locations ahead of the November 2025 election to 214. The number of early voting locations was also reduced to 33 for that election.
What they’re saying
County Judge Tim O’Hare said he did not support the reduction down to 176 polling locations for Election Day voting.
“I’m not okay with it,” he said. “I think that’s way too large a cut.”
Simmons said she felt that the proposal made voting less accessible to county residents.
“This is a deliberate act to reduce voter access,” Simmons said. “You haven’t given a good reason for it because nobody on the court, according to you, asked you to do it.”
Going forward
An updated list of polling locations for Election Day and early voting is expected to be presented during the Sept. 1 meeting.
