If Tarrant County has more registered voters than it did four years ago, why is the County Commissioner's Court even considering providing their residents with fewer places to vote this November?

In March 2022, Tarrant County had 1,226,353 registered voters. In March of this year, that number had grown to 1,306,427. An impressive 80,000 more Texans are ready to participate in our democracy, yet on August 4, the Tarrant County Commissioners are expected to almost halve the number of Election Day polling locations, from 304 in the last comparable statewide general election to just 176 on November 3.

County Judge Tim O'Hare says the Republicans’ proposal is about “efficiency” and saving taxpayer dollars. Texans have heard that argument before. All in the lead-up to a monumental election where O’Hare and others are on the ballot.  

Governor Abbott and Lt. Governor Patrick have worked tirelessly to suppress the vote in Texas. In the 2020 election, with drive-thru and 24-hour voting, voters turned out in larger numbers. When that led to an outcome state leaders didn’t like, they changed the laws, taking away options that led to higher voter turnout. President Donald Trump has embraced the same approach nationally, trying to create hurdles, such as the SAVE Act, to limit the number of people exercising their right to vote. 

Now, that playbook has reached our state’s bellwether county. What we are seeing in Tarrant County is another example of removing voting options. 

Let's be clear about what this is: it's a nurse trying to vote after a twelve-hour shift. It's parents squeezing in a trip to the polls before picking up their children. It's the retirees who have voted for decades. It's every eligible voter who will have to drive farther and wait longer, and those who won't make it to vote at all.

Throughout the state, I'm hearing from Texans they don't trust their political leaders to look out for them. Trust is broken over time, and local governments have an opportunity to rebuild that trust by preserving and expanding their voting locations before the midterms.

Tarrant County is the latest battlefront in a long history of voter suppression in this state. Lawmakers may feel that they still have a grasp on power, but their fingers are slipping.

With leaders like Commissioner Alisa Simmons, whose Precinct 2 seat was gerrymandered by redistricting (sound familiar?), holding the line against a disgusting display of raw politics. It then becomes the responsibility of those committed to democracy to tell your elected officials this is wrong. Show up. Hold them accountable. Elect leaders that will defend your rights.

I will be at the Tarrant County Commissioners Court, with local groups, on Tuesday to tell the Commissioners that cutting the number of voting locations while the number of new voters is only growing is un-American and un-Texan.