Recently, a failed attempt was made to suppress the votes of minority groups led by Republican Tim O’Hare, a chief elected official of Tarrant County.
The idea was to close early voting sites on several college campuses including TCC South and NE, which have diverse student bodies. The 2024-2025 data profile from the TCC website shows the Black, Hispanic/Latino and Asian populations to be almost 73% on South campus and 55% on the NE campus.
Another site proposed to be closed was UT Arlington. In 2022, the minority student population was 57% on campus.
In comparison, Texas Christian University didn’t face the chopping block. Their student demographic is majority white and more conservative.
The logic used by O’Hare included points such as the polling sites being too close together and the sites being an inefficient use of taxpayer dollars that could be used for funding senior voting centers. He stated that more seniors come out to vote than college students, while having less sites.
Regarding point one, O’Hare was specifically referencing the Arlington Sub courthouse location being too close to the UT Arlington one. These locations are a 20-minute walk from each other going through busy roads. Many college students do not have cars, which means removing the UT Arlington location would, objectively, make it harder for them to vote.
Point two falls within the framing used heavily by O’Hare, protecting the votes of senior citizens. Tarrant County should be focusing on how to make it easier for everyone to vote, instead of pitting senior citizens and college students against each other.
For example, the elderly face issues when voting due to lack of public transportation. Taking steps to improve the public transportation system would make it easier for seniors to vote, not closing voting sites on college campuses.
Another way to increase accessibility for voters is to decrease the number of restrictions placed on mail-in ballots. The restrictions make the window of people who can use mail-in ballots narrow.
However, the aim of O’Hare and the GOP backing him up is completely different than providing accessible means to vote for Tarrant County residents, at least not all of them.
The underlying issue for them is where the votes of college students and minority groups tend to lean, which happens to be their opposing party.
The claims of the proposed closures being a non-partisan issue are false. Manny Ramirez is currently facing backlash from fellow Republicans for voting against their effort to suppress student votes.
The chair of the Tarrant County Republican Party, Bo French, posted a resolution which stated that Ramirez voting against closing polling stations, “undermines the ability of Republicans to win the general election in Tarrant County.” He said this resolution was signed unanimously at the last Tarrant County GOP meeting.
Ramirez said he voted to add more locations as a Republican so more people could go out to vote. He was supported in his stance by some constituents making public comments.
French ended up revealing the real reason of the proposed closures through statements attacking Ramirez, which is to suppress votes that will not benefit the Republican party. There was no intent of upholding the right to vote by increasing accessibility for all.
In the end, the attempt at voter suppression was unsuccessful. O’Hare was the only official of the Commissioners Court who voted to close the polling locations.
On principle, voting is a right that should be protected for everyone, regardless of which way their vote falls.
