After a month of sweating it out in the August heat, county-certified volunteers can return to registering citizens to vote inside Tarrant County buildings.
The Tarrant County commissioners voted 3-1 Wednesday to approve an amendment to the newly changed facilities use policy that pushed volunteer deputy registrars out of county buildings in August. County Judge Tim O’Hare cast the lone opposition vote.
Precinct 4 Commissioner Manny Ramirez was absent for the vote.
The amendment excludes activities by volunteer deputy registrars, who are certified by the county to register citizens to vote, from the term “non-regular use.” A rule change approved in July prohibited non-regular activities in county facilities.
The amendment was put on the agenda by Precinct 2 Commissioner Alisa Simmons, who told the Star-Telegram she was pleased her colleagues agreed with the amendment.
It was “inhumane” to force volunteer deputy registrars outside in extreme conditions, she said.
Fort Worth saw 17 days of at least 100-degree highs in August.
“The county trains, tests and certifies volunteer deputy registrars, gives them a badge,” she told the Star-Telegram after the vote. “If they are registering folks to vote, that’s a good thing. We’re engaging the electorate, getting them to vote. Being inside in harsh weather conditions, whether it is 108-degree weather or rainy weather or chilly weather, just makes sense.”
Simmons was absent on July 16 when the court voted 4-0 to change the county’s facilities use policy to include activities like voter registration and press conferences as “non-regular use.”
Cornell Woolridge, a volunteer deputy registrar for Texas Freedom Network, told the Star-Telegram while registering voters outside the county administration building last month that he was unaware of the rule change on Aug. 1. He believed the change was an attempt at voter suppression.
The high was 101 degrees on Aug. 13, the day he spoke to the Star-Telegram.
During the commissioners vote on Wednesday, County Judge Tim O’Hare questioned fellow Republican Gary Fickes, double-checking that he indeed wanted to vote in favor of the amendment.
“You’re a yes on this, Gary?” he said before the voting boards revealed the votes to the few attendees left after a lengthy executive session. “You’re voting for the amendment that she is proposing to make deputy registrars — where they just get to come in?”
Fickes confirmed he intended to vote in favor of the amendment.
Texas Freedom Network was one of three nonprofit organizations on the agenda petitioning for permission to use selected Tarrant County buildings to register voters. The other two were Battleground Texas and Jolt Initiative.
A representative of Jolt Initiative declined to comment. The other two organizations did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Legal counsel for the county commissioners advised O’Hare that the agenda items were moot after the passage of the amendment, and the items requested by the nonprofits were not voted on.
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