Tarrant County voters will have fewer places to cast a ballot this year. Commissioners trimmed Election Day polling sites by nearly 29 percent, from 316 down to 224, and early voting locations from 50 to 47. One of the 92 locations removed was the Maverick Activity Center at UT Arlington, which had served as the campus polling place. The closest option now is a county sub-courthouse about a mile from campus.
The removal has sparked disagreement over why it happened. UTA student body president Andres Morales says student leaders were told cost drove the decision. Tarrant County Elections Administrator Clint Ludwig says the site was dropped because classes were scheduled in the room during early voting and the university never finalized alternative arrangements. Student government says it is now working to arrange rides, and the City of Arlington is offering free transportation to polling locations during early voting and on Election Day.
With more than one million voters in Tarrant County, small changes to polling locations can add up to big shifts in who participates, especially among young voters. Students like Dylan Thomas and Tyler Young, along with student government chief of staff Trevor McCullough, say the access issue goes beyond politics. As Morales put it, this isn’t about red or blue, it’s about the constitutional right to vote. Have you ever skipped an election because getting to the polls was too complicated?
