SE and NW campuses saw a combined 82.7% increase in early voter turnout compared to the 2022 midterm election.
SE Campus recorded 12,432 early voters this year, an increase of nearly 88% from the 6,617 voters recorded in 2022. NW Campus saw a similar trend, with early voter turnout rising more than 75% from 4,695 in 2022 to 8,240 this year.
This year’s election follows a decision by the Tarrant County Commissioners Court to remove 92 polling locations, including ones at South and NE campuses, less than two months before early voting.
Tarrant County Elections Administrator Clint Ludwig said the decision was intended to save taxpayer money and close underused polling locations.
According to Tarrant County’s website, some polling places saw wait times as high as two hours. Saginaw resident Breann Gwinnett said the decision to vote at NW Campus was made because of proximity and long lines at other locations.
“Usually, I just go to the Saginaw library, but it was like a two-hour wait there,” Gwinnett said.
Michelle Valores and her husband have voted at SE Campus multiple times because it’s the closest location to their home. She said it only took them about 15 minutes around noon to get through the line before they could vote.
SE student Faisal Khan, however, said it took several hours in line around noon at SE Campus before he could vote.
According to Tarrant County election data, Tarrant County overall has seen a 47% increase in early voters compared to Texas’ last midterm.
The increase in early voting is partly driven by first-time voters. NW student Alex Rangel chose to vote for the first time at NW Campus and said he heard about the polling location cuts from her government teacher.
“I think that it doesn’t really make any sense, especially this campus like getting an increase in budget and stuff like that,” Rangel said. “And if they’re gonna make the school look nice, they can at least provide each campus with that to give people the opportunity [to vote].”
According to a 2022 voter turnout report, voters at South and SE campuses overwhelmingly favored Democratic candidates while voters at NE Campus showed a slight preference for Democrats. Meanwhile, NW Campus voters favored Beto O’Rourke in the gubernatorial race while results in other races were more divided.
During an unsuccessful push by Tarrant County Judge Tim O’Hare in 2024 to close polling places on college campuses, he denied that partisan politics was a factor. He instead argued that college campuses were inconvenient for older voters.
Rangel said the county needs to open more polling locations for those same people.
“A lot of people that come to TCC either have outside priorities like work, taking care of family, school, stuff like that,” Rangel said. “It just all builds up, so I think that would just make it easier.”
Campus editors Kirsten Mahon and Cara Coco contributed to the reporting of this article.
