Tarrant County commissioners are expected to vote Tuesday on a proposal that would significantly reduce the number of polling places available to voters during the November 2026 midterm election. The proposal, listed on the Aug. 4 Commissioners Court agenda, would cut the number of Election Day v oting locations from 316 sites used during the 2022 midterm election to 176 sites this year. If approved, the change would eliminate 140 polling places, a reduction of about 44%. Commissioners also will consider a plan to reduce early voting locations from 50 sites used during the 2022 midterms to 42 locations for the 2026 election. The issue is expected to be one of several election-related items discussed during the court’s 10 a.m. meeting. More than 1.3 million voters are registered in Tarrant County. The November ballot is expected to include more than 70 county, state and federal partisan races, along with nonpartisan elections for seats on the Tarrant Appraisal District board and the Keller Independent School District board of trustees. The issue has sparked debate among county leaders and voting-rights advocates. Last year, the Republican majority on the Commissioners Court approved a reduction of more than 100 Election Day polling locations for a nonpresidential election, arguing that lower-turnout elections require fewer voting sites and that consolidating locations can reduce costs. But democratic commissioners opposed those cuts, arguing that reducing polling sites could limit access to voting and disproportionately affect communities that already face barriers to participating in elections. State Sen. Taylor Rehmet of District 9 posted this statement to social media the day before the meeting. State Rep. Vikki Goodwin, D-Austin, who is the Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor, is expected to speak about the proposal during a Tuesday morning press conference and later attend the Commissioners Court meeting. In an opinion piece published Monday by Progress Texas, Goodwin characterized the proposal as part of a broader fight over voting access in Texas. “Tarrant County is the latest battlefront in a long history of voter suppression in this state,” Goodwin wrote. “Throughout the state, I’m hearing from Texans that 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.” If commissioners approve the proposal, voters will have access to 176 Election Day polling sites and 42 early-voting locations for the November election. Early voting is scheduled for Oct. 19 through Oct. 30. The deadline to register to vote for the November election is Oct. 5. This story uses functionality that may not work in our app. Click here to open the story in your web browser. ...read more read less