After gerrymandering comes eliminating polling places···the Republican ‘voting desert’ operation unfolding in Tarrant County - 경향신문

This article was translated by an AI tool. Feedback Here.

Catherine Godbey during a video interview with the Kyunghyang Shinmun on the 8th (local time).

Tarrant County, Texas, will eliminate one third of polling places for the midterm elections to be held on November 3 (local time). By a 3-2 vote, the Republican majority county commission passed on the 1st a plan to reduce polling places from 316 to 224, citing “cost savings.”

The closures are concentrated in areas with higher proportions of people of color and higher poverty rates. Some areas have become ‘voting deserts’ with not a single polling place. Voting has become even harder for residents without cars and low income people who can scarcely take time off from work.

In interviews with the Kyunghyang Shinmun on the 8th (local time), local activists advocating voting rights said they suspect that Republicans, who had pushed through gerrymandering to shape favorable electoral maps, are testing a new tactic of ‘cutting polling places.’

Tarrant County handed former President Joe Biden a 1,826 vote edge in the 2020 presidential election. In the 2024 presidential election it backed President Donald Trump again by 42,000 votes, but compared with a decade ago, the vote gap between Republicans and Democrats has narrowed substantially.

It is especially notable that in Democratic primaries held in Tarrant County in March, about 188,400 people participated, far surpassing about 145,000 on the Republican side. This shows that enthusiasm to participate in the Democratic primary was higher than for Republicans, suggesting the possibility of higher general election turnout among Democratic supporters.

Catherine Godbey, co founder and board chair of the civic group ‘Justice Network,’ criticized, saying “cost savings is a false pretext,” and “Republicans, who feel a sense of crisis, are resorting to tricks to lower turnout among voters inclined to support Democrats.”

Tim O Hare, the Republican chair of the Tarrant County commission who led this decision, argued that by reducing polling places, “we have avoided wastefully placing a polling place across the street. Polling places are distributed fairly and rationally.” However, in reality the number of polling places fell by a far larger margin in ZIP code areas with higher poverty. Among the areas with the steepest cuts are places with higher shares of people of color.

A comparison of the 2022 and 2026 polling place lists released by Tarrant County election authorities with poverty rate data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS) shows that polling places in the top 25% of areas by poverty rate fell from 89 to 51, a decrease of 42.7%. By contrast, in the bottom 25% with the lowest poverty rates, the number declined from 70 to 67, a decrease of only 4.3%.

In Tarrant County, ZIP code area A, which has the highest poverty rate (30.1%), and area B, which has the lowest (1.5%), provide a stark contrast. In area A, where the share of people of color is 78.4% and 9.3% of households do not have a car, the number of Election Day polling places was cut from seven to three, more than a halving. In area B, where only 1.9% of households lack a car, polling places increased from three to four.

In particular, in ZIP code area C, all three polling places from the 2022 elections disappeared, leaving not a single Election Day polling place. Area C has a poverty rate of 16.2%, and about 6.4% of households do not have a car. Even allowing for residents without voting rights, such as non citizens, this suggests that there is likely to be a certain number of eligible voters who may face difficulties accessing polling places due to lack of a vehicle.

For example, based on one home on Oakland Boulevard within area C, during the 2022 midterms it took a two minute walk to reach a polling place. But in the November midterms, it will take about a 50 minute walk to reach a polling place located in a neighboring ZIP code area.

The polling place that had been on the University of Texas at Arlington campus was also eliminated. Because Election Day is not a public holiday in the United States, if an on campus polling place disappears, students must use free periods to go to a polling place off campus. Lisbeth, whom we met on the 10th in front of a dormitory, said, “I live in the dorms, so I do not have a car. Voting is going to become very inconvenient.” Alexandria, a graduate student in architecture, pointed out, “We always say young people should vote, so how does it make sense to intentionally remove the polling place that used to be on campus?”

Godbey, who has led opposition to the cuts, said in the video interview on the 8th, “The concentrated closure of polling places in low income and people of color neighborhoods is clearly racial discrimination,” adding, “Some places have to cross a highway to get to the nearest alternative polling place. In some cases, access becomes impossible without a car.”

Dr. Michael Bell during a video interview with the Kyunghyang Shinmun on the 8th (local time).

Michael Bell, a Black pastor who has spoken out on civil rights issues such as race, education, and police reform, also said in the interview that “for low income people of color, cutting polling places has a direct impact on time and money.” He said, “The areas where they live lack an economic base, so people leave the neighborhood to work. Previously they could stop by and vote on the way home, and if the neighborhood school was a polling place, they could vote when picking up their children. But now there are cases where they must take the children home from school and then go out again to a polling place, which may mean paying additional after school care costs.”

Bell said, “Tarrant County is like a ‘leading indicator’ for Texas and for Republicans,” and expressed concern that “if cutting polling places exerts influence on turnout, Republicans may spread it to other areas to shape the electoral landscape in their favor.” Godbey said that redistricting also first began to be discussed in Tarrant County and then spread to other parts of Texas.

MAGA (Make America Great Again) influencer Steve Bannon has in fact described Tarrant County as a strategic stronghold that will determine the course of conservative politics in Texas and nationwide. On a podcast in November last year, he even said, “As Tarrant goes, so goes Texas, and as Texas goes, so goes the nation.”

Godbey expressed concern not only about cutting polling places but also about various measures by the Trump administration to restrict voting rights, including the “Save America Act,” which President Trump is pressuring Congress to pass. The bill would require proof of U.S. citizenship in order to register to vote, and because a driver license alone cannot establish citizenship, applicants would have to go through a complicated process to obtain additional documents. This is not an easy process for low income people and rural residents. Bell said, “For married women, surnames change, so the current legal name may not match the name on the birth certificate,” adding, “Once you start requiring citizenship related documents, it will be a nightmare.”

Continued attacks by the Trump administration and Republicans on the election system and attempts to shrink voting rights are fueling concern that the federal government may interfere in these midterms. Reuters reported that many state governments and election authorities have taken unusual steps to prepare for contingencies. In some areas, election offices have installed bulletproof glass and surveillance cameras, and there are even places conducting drills that assume Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents appear at polling sites.

Pastor Bell said, “The ultimate goal of Trump is to make people unable to trust the election system itself,” and added, “If they do not trust it, people stop participating. They start thinking, ‘What is the point of my voting.’” Godbey said, “Until I turned seventy, I lived thinking democracy was simply a given, but now I feel a sense of crisis that we could truly lose it,” and added, “Yet the people are stronger than those in power. If everyone joins forces, we can stop it.”

Civic groups in Tarrant County, including the Justice Network, plan to encourage voters to participate in early voting and to provide transportation for those who have difficulty accessing polling places on Election Day.