Fort Worth, Texas: Tarrant County Cuts Election Day Polling Sites From 316 to 224 for Tuesday Vote

Tarrant County voters will find 92 fewer places to vote on Election Day. The Tarrant County Commissioners Court voted in September to cut Election Day polling locations from 316 in the 2022 midterms to 224 for Tuesday, November 3, 2026.

The adopted list also carries 47 early voting sites, down from 50 in 2022. Election Day is Tuesday, and the midterms decide control of Congress, so voters whose regular site closed need to check where they can vote before they travel.

Tarrant County sits in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. It has more than 2.2 million residents and 1.3 million registered voters. It is also the biggest county in Texas that Donald Trump won in 2024, with 51.86 percent of the vote.

A 3-2 vote after a long hearing

The vote was 3-2. The court's three Republicans backed the cuts and its two Democrats opposed them.

More than 100 speakers testified at the meeting, and the majority opposed the plan. The meeting lasted over 8 hours. Advocates from 30 civic groups rallied outside the courthouse.

Commissioner Matt Krause told ABC News the reduced number complies with state law and makes efficient use of sites. County Judge Tim O'Hare defended the plan and said the Election Day count exceeds the statutory minimum required by the state.

Where the cuts fall hardest

An ABC News analysis found 21 ZIP codes where more than 75 percent of residents are non-white lost 37 polling sites between them.

ZIP code 76010 in Arlington is 86 percent non-white and has a median household income of $45,466. It went from 8 Election Day sites to 3.

ZIP code 76119 in Fort Worth is 93 percent non-white. It went from 9 sites to 3.

Those two ZIP codes alone lost 11 of their 17 sites. Across the county, the total fell by 92 sites, from 316 to 224, a cut of close to three in ten.

What voters and advocates are doing

Estella Williams, head of the Tarrant County-Fort Worth NAACP chapter, said volunteers have launched phone banking to call and text voters whose polling sites closed. The volunteers tell voters where they can vote and help them get to the polls.

Early voting offered an early sign of demand. Turnout in Tarrant County after the first week of early voting was up 63 percent over the first week of 2022, and many voters waited in long lines for hours.

That rise came with fewer early voting sites as well, 47 this year against 50 in 2022. On Tuesday the county will run 224 Election Day sites for 1.3 million registered voters.

For voters in Arlington, Fort Worth and the rest of the county, the practical point is simple. A site that was open in 2022 may not be open on Tuesday. Checking the county list before leaving home is the safest way to avoid a wasted trip on the day the midterms are decided.