Tarrant County commissioner upset over number of polling places for TX Senate runoff

A Democrat on the Tarrant County Commissioners Court is upset that there will be fewer polling locations in the Senate District 9 runoff than there were in November’s constitutional amendment election.

Commissioners voted 3-0 Tuesday, with the two Democrats abstaining, to set 143 locations for the Jan. 31 runoff between Democrat Taylor Rehmet and Republican Leigh Wambsganss, who advanced to the runoff to fill the North Texas district following a Nov. 4 special election. They approved 21 locations for early voting Jan. 21 through Jan. 27.

In November, when there was a statewide ballot, voters had their choice of 214 Election Day sites and 33 early voting locations.

Some of those sites saw lines up to half-an-hour long. Because lines were long, Commissioner Alisa Simmons, an Arlington Democrat, said there should be more polling locations available.

Elections Administrator Clint Ludwig said voters’ habits are to blame for long wait times, not the number of voting sites.

In August, the commissioners made a partisan decision to reduce the early voting locations by a fourth and Election Day sites by a third compared to 2023, saving the county over $1 million.

One early voting center costs “on average, a little over $10,300” to operate, Ludwig told the court in August.

Ludwig said the average wait time on Nov. 4 was about seven and a half minutes. Up until 4 p.m., the longest wait was less than five minutes, but lines lengthened once people started getting off work.

Republican Commissioner Matt Krause, from Keller, said there’s always a rush on Election Day because of voters’ traditions.

“I don’t think that’s an anomaly or that we didn’t have enough polling places,” Krause said. “Then you look at the average, and if it’s 7.25 minutes on Election Day, that’s a pretty good efficient process.”

Some wait times were up to 45 minutes.

Simmons has said long wait times are unacceptable because they can persuade voters not to vote at all. On Election Day, she had planned to vote at the Mansfield Subcourthouse but had to vote elsewhere.

“I left and went somewhere else to vote because I refused to stand in that line that was wrapped around the building,” Simmons said. “You can’t tell me that wait time was 7 minutes or 15 minutes or anything. I saw it with my own eyes.”

Ludwig said voters should have planned to vote early or use the wait time map on the county website to decide where they would go.

“You did not need to go there and wait in line. Don’t wait till 5 o’clock on Election Day to show up to the polls,” Ludwig said at a November Reagan Legacy Republican Women meeting. “You had 12 days of early voting and a lot of hours before that. Because if you do, you may end up waiting in line.”

Ludwig said people instead went to the location they knew at the end of the last day, and some lines were long because of it.

Roughly 50% of voters cast their ballots during the 11-day early voting period and about 49% came to the polls on Election Day. The remaining 1% were mail-in ballots. The election had a total turnout of 17.39%.

For comparison, the 2023 election had a 12.23% turnout rate. About 40% of people voted early and 58% cast their ballots on Election Day.

“We have 1.3 million registered voters in this county,” Ludwig said earlier in November. “Your vote matters, and I will count it if you care to cast it. Now, if it’s not supposed to count, I’m not going to count it. So understand that, but it is your voice. You need to get out to the polls.”

Senate District 9 run-off

The November ballot had 17 constitutional amendments and, for the roughly 1 million residents in Senate District 9, a choice between three candidates. None got more than 50% of the vote, so the two highest vote getters will be on the Jan. 31 ballot.

The majority of the district spreads across County Commissioner Precincts 3 and 4, but law requires at least half the number of polling locations in one precinct as in another.

There are 50 Election Day voting sites in Precinct 3, so there are 25 polling locations in Precincts 1 and 2.

Ludwig told commissioners on Tuesday 35 locations had no wait time on the Nov. 4 Election Day.

“Como Community Center, on Election Day, average wait time was 25.26 minutes,” Ludwig said. “But within 1.7 miles was a Baptist church that had an average wait time of 1.15 minutes all day long. People did not choose to use the app and the features we have available to find locations. They just went to the main ones that they know.”

There’s no need to wait in line, Ludwig said. Voters need to check wait times before going to vote.

Simmons agreed that the tools are useful, but it’s not feasible for residents with limited access to transportation.

She said it will always be her belief that more polling locations are better and that lessening the number of sites is voter suppression, especially when the disappearing locations are in communities of color.

Simmons attempted to add more voting locations to the list, but the amendment didn’t receive a majority of votes. Ludwig said the polling sites listed are primarily within the Senate District 9 bounds.

This story was originally published December 10, 2025 at 5:07 PM.