Ending Voter Suppression:  A Local Victory

APRIL 14, 2015

"Change in early voting site in south Arlington criticized."
-Fort Worth Star Telegram

"Under state law, it is too late to switch the polling place back."
-Election Administrator, Frank Philips

“It is clear that no matter the political affiliation, neighborhood or ethnicity, your constituents are upset, if not angry. This impending change would have been perfect fodder for public input at a public hearing.”
- Arlington NAACP President, Alisa Simmons

APRIL 16, 2015

"Arlington early voting site will be open after all." 
- Fort Worth Star Telegram

"Officially, voting at the service center will show up as occurring at the church...,  but the county’s voter check-in software will allow officials to differentiate which votes were cast where."
-Election Administrator, Frank Philips

“We’re relieved. This was the remedy we proposed all along.”
- Arlington NAACP President, Alisa Simmons

On Monday April 6th, 2015 the Arlington Branch was notified that the South Water Service Center in Arlington was eliminated as an early voting location for the May 9, 2015 Joint General and Special Election.  We contacted city leadership and we were told that the loss of SSC as an early polling site was a staff error. The Branch asked that SSC be added back as an early polling location. City staff advised it was just not possible, even though the city council had not ratified the contract with Tarrant County Elections Administration to conduct the election. Nor had the city council voted to eliminate SSC as an early polling site.  To confuse matters, SSC is slated to be open for Election Day voting.  We communicated with Tarrant County Elections Administration and the City of Arlington, urging them keep SSC.  We were repeatedly told it was not at all possible. 


After many email conversations, inquiries and the presentation of scenarios to the elections administrator on Wednesday night. we were pleased on early Thursday morning to learn that the elections administrator made the decision to open SSC for early voting, while keeping St. Joseph as an early polling place.  Followed by his email, we received a phone call from the city stating that SSC would be open for early voting.  


The SSC is consistently one of the top vote-getting polling places in all of Tarrant County.  In fact, during the 2014 November 4th General Election, SSC had the highest voter turnout in the county with over 11,000 early voters.  In addition,  it sits in a district that is heavily minority. 


After a public campaign led by the Arlington NAACP, supported by community leaders, including State Representative, Chris Turner, city and county officials agreed to reopen the early voting station that has been an early voting site since 2005; this after initially being told by Election Administrator, Frank Philips, the Mayor and city council members that it was "too late." 



Municipal Candidate Forum | May 2015