The Tarrant County Commissioners Court voted 4-1 to allow early voting sites on college campuses.
Republican Commissioner Manny Ramirez motioned to vote on the 51-site list, which included college campuses, and Democratic Commissioner Alisa Simmons seconded the motion, reported Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
Tarrant County Judge Tim O’Hare, a Republican, was the sole vote against the motion.
“I’ve heard all the chatter about voter suppression, if there’s actual voter suppression going on from requiring a college kid who may not be registered in Tarrant County to walk the equivalent of about six-tenths of a mile to vote, and that you’re suppressing their vote if you don’t allow the most ludicrous thing I’ve ever heard,” O’Hare said.
O’Hare asked Ramirez if he wanted to amend his motion but Ramirez declined and instead sided with the Democratic commissioners. Republican Commissioner Gary Fickes also voted in favor of the motion.
Activists and officials on the right may be upset with Ramirez and Fickes, with many turning out to speak out against the proposal during public comment.
“We got voters who actually do need help at the polls, our senior citizens, those who are disabled. And rather than prioritizing sites that are actually going help to reduce voter suppression, such as our senior citizen centers all across Tarrant County, we are giving in to … a political plot from our failed news sources, such as Star-Telegram, to attack our great elected officials once again,” Rep. Nate Schatzline (R-Fort Worth) said during public comment.
“Most of our community colleges, if I had to guess, none of them live on campus. There aren’t dorms that I know of on community campuses, so they are all commuters. They’re getting there somehow. Most of them are driving,” Republican precinct chair Amie Super told the commissioners.
Super also encouraged Ramirez to change his motion and remove the college campuses as polling locations.
Others supported Ramirez’s motion.
“I am here for two things, number one, as a former student of UT Arlington, president of the student body of UT Arlington years and years ago. But more specifically in terms of making certain that there are sufficient voting locations,” Sen. Royce West (D-Dallas) said during public comment.
Some left-wing activists who supported Ramirez’s motion praised the measure.
“Mr. Ramirez, thank you so much, sir, and when you get a chance to see Uncle Charlie, tell him the Bishop said something,” Bishop Mark Kirkland said during public comment.
After the motion passed 4-1, the left-wing activists and officials in the crowd erupted in celebration.