Plan to cut number of polling sites in a major Texas county draws protests as Senate race looms

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A plan in one of Texas' largest counties to use dozens fewer polling locations than in previous years is drawing protests from Democrats who say the reductions could create confusion in the November midterm elections.

The proposal, set for a vote Tuesday, would reduce the number of polling locations across booming Tarrant County, which borders Dallas and includes Fort Worth. County officials say the plan would save resources by eliminating low-turnout sites, noting voters would still have more than 200 locations where they could cast ballots.

Texas' third-largest county is home to more than 2 million people and a key battleground in the U.S. Senate race between Democratic state Rep. James Talarico and Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton. On Sunday, Talarico urged the county to reject the proposal.

“The most powerful people in this county, the most powerful people in this country, don’t want us to be able vote easily,” Talarico said at a news conference.

If the plan is approved, Tarrant County would have 92 fewer polling locations on Election Day than it did during the 2022 midterms.

Closing polling locations in Texas is not a new trend, county elections officials say. The trend has been accelerated by an embrace of countywide voting sites and the difficulty in recruiting poll workers. Other Texas counties have also considered or already reduced the number of polling locations for November while some have added more.

“We’re clearly not trying to suppress the vote,” Rep. Matt Shaheen, the Republican chairman of the House Elections Committee, said of polling site reductions in Texas. “That’s a silly accusation.”

Tarrant County Elections Administrator Clint Ludwig has said the reductions would allow the county to eliminate locations that serve few people.

Locations near bus stops that complied with federal accessibility laws were prioritized to remain open, according to a county statement. Officials said the average distance between Election Day sites under the plan was 1.5 mile (2.4 kilometers).

“All of this is accomplished without the wasteful practice of placing polling sites directly across the street from one other,” said Tarrant County Judge Tim O’Hare, a Republican and the county’s top administrator.

Spokespeople for Paxton did not respond to emails seeking comment.

Texas law lets each of the state’s 254 counties decide how many polling places to use. Tarrant County adopted countywide voting in 2019 but didn’t immediately begin reducing the number of polling locations.

On Friday, the NAACP and the American Civil Liberties Union joined voting rights groups in signing a letter urging the county to reject the proposal, saying the closures would be strongly felt in areas with high percentages of minority voters. About a third of the county’s residents are Hispanic, and about 19.2% are Black, according to Census data.

Bastrop County Elections Administrator Kristin Miles, whose county is outside Austin, said reducing the number of polling sites could make sense, depending on how heavily they are used. Miles noted that there would be little point, for instance, in opening sites in rural areas that may only serve a handful of voters throughout the day.

Carol Raburn, who worked the March primaries as an election judge in Tarrant County, called the proposal a form of voter suppression.

"Because what happens when people don’t have a convenient place to go vote that’s not too far away from where they are, where they live? They just don’t go vote because they’ve made it so difficult,” she said.

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Wilder is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico, right, speaks with Tarrant County Commissioner Alisa Simmons during a news conference at UTA, Sunday, Aug. 30, 2026, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

Tarrant County Commissioner Alisa Simmons, left, speaks as Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico looks on as during a news conference at UTA, Sunday, Aug. 30, 2026, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico, left, and Tarrant County Commissioner Alisa Simmons arrive for a news conference at UTA, Sunday, Aug. 30, 2026, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

WEST ALLIS, Wis (AP) — Alex Palou won his record-tying fourth consecutive IndyCar season championship with a 10th-place finish Sunday night in the resumption of a rain-delayed race at the Milwaukee Mile.

The 29-year-old from Barcelona, Spain, added to yet another dominating year for himself and Chip Ganassi Racing. He has 607 points going into next weekend's IndyCar season finale at Laguna Seca in California, 100 points more than Christian Lundgaard in second.

Palou set the stage for his championship-winning result by finishing fifth in Sunday’s regularly scheduled race.

“It was a very tough and long day for everyone,” Palou said, “but it was cool. ... I think we did over 400 laps today and we’re not used to that. We’re used to doing only one race and that just didn’t make it easy at all.”

Palou’s four consecutive championships match the record set by Sebastien Bourdais from 2004-07. He also is the youngest driver in series history with five titles. He trails A.J. Foyt (seven) and Scott Dixon (six).

It’s also a record-setting 18th title won by a Ganassi driver, one more than Team Penske.

In 17 races this season, Palou has six wins, 12 top-five finishes and 14 top-10 results.

“It’s tough to compare. Honestly, it’s very tough,” Palou said of his five season championships. “I feel like every single one (is) super special. This one, I feel like every year I’m able to enjoy more and more because I have the experience from the previous one and I don’t know if it’s going to happen again or not. So I keep on enjoying every single one more. So I would say this has been the most special so far.”

IndyCar completed 90 of the scheduled 250 laps at the 1.015-mile oval on Saturday before the race was postponed because of rain and wet track conditions.

Palou was coming off a 2025 season in which he won eight races, including his first and only Indy 500 title.

Most impressive has been his consistency. Over the past two seasons, he hasn't had back-to-back finishes outside the top 10 in 33 races. He was 20th in the Freedom 250 Grand Prix in Washington, D.C. last weekend, only the third time in two years he ended up 20th or worse.

The championship caps a year that began with London’s High Court ordering Palou to pay McLaren Racing more than $12 million in a breach of contract suit the team filed when the Spaniard backed out of two different deals with the racing team.

Palou has instead stuck with Ganassi, the team he joined in 2021 after spending his rookie IndyCar season with Dale Coyle Racing. In May, Palou signed a multiyear contract extension with Ganassi to continue their relationship beyond the previous deal that ran through the end of 2027.

“I mean they gave me the opportunity since 2021 to drive for them and to drive for a championship-winning team,” Palou said, “and since then it’s been just an incredible ride with everybody on the team, the sponsors. They keep on giving me all the tools necessary to fight for wins and championships and so on, so I owe everything to them.”

See AP’s full auto racing coverage here

The car of Alex Palou (10) of Spain sits on the track before the IndyCar Freedom 250 Grand Prix auto race in Washington, Sunday, Aug. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Alex Palou (10) of Spain stands during the National Anthem before the IndyCar Freedom 250 Grand Prix auto race in Washington, Sunday, Aug. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)