Tarrant County commissioners deny Trinity Metro funding to provide free rides to polls

Tarrant County commissioners voted 3-2 along party lines Wednesday not to contribute toward funding Trinity Metro’s free rides to polling locations.

The election transportation partnership service has been in place since 2019, though the county has not provided funding every year. It provides voters free rides to polling locations along fixed routes on election days and during early voting.

Trinity Metro asked for a $10,000 reimbursement for providing the service for primary elections, which represented a 50-50 split. Trinity Metro did not immediately return a message requesting comment.

County Judge Tim O’Hare said the county should not subsidize the service and said public subsidization of transportation to the polls goes against federal law, citing a case in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

“That is not the responsibility of county government. It’s not the responsibility of taxpayers,” O’Hare said. “Taxpayer funds should not be used to get people to the polls.”

Democrat Roy Brooks took issue with the O’Hare’s comments and the motion to reject funding. Brooks said it is the county’s responsibility to make voting as accessible as possible.

Republican Manny Ramirez told the Star-Telegram in an interview that he voted against the subsidizing of Trinity’s free rides for voters because many in his districts wouldn’t be able to use the service.

“My citizens in Azle, Saginaw, Blue Mound, Sansom Park, they’re not getting the benefit that everyone in Tarrant County would have been paying for,” Ramirez said. “Ultimately, if there’s a solution in the future that looks at transportation, issues to the polls and there’s some common sense solutions there, or nonprofits that want to plug in and help that’s great. But ultimately, I don’t think Tarrant County taxpayer dollars should be utilized when not every Tarrant County taxpayer or citizen is benefiting.”

Ramirez said he believes it is the county’s responsibility to make voting as accessible as possible but feels access to the polls is adequate.

“I think the election commission and ballot boards and all these groups that are put in place independent of the commissioners court that decides where all these things go I think that they have their systems and why they choose what they choose,” Ramirez said. “Ultimately I think in Tarrant County it’s very easy to vote.and I think that we’ve created a system that’s very open.”

Tarrant GOP chairman Bo French posted on X Tuesday that the “deep state in Tarrant Co. is alive and well” in reference to the requested reimbursement from the county.

French asked the court’s Republicans to vote against the issue, alleging the rides were a way to bus Democrats to the polls.

“When I learned they were wanting to bus people to the polls, at taxpayer expense, I knew I needed to expose this. I am glad I did,” French told the Star-Telegram in an email. “Because of the light I shined on the issue and the public pressure that came with it, this measure failed to pass. This is a win for conservatives and for the taxpayers of Tarrant County.”

In an announcement about the program in February 2022, then County Judge Glen Whitley, a Republican, said: “It is crucial that people get out to vote in the primary election, and access to transportation should not be a barrier to getting to polling locations. We are pleased to be able to once again offer free rides, including accessible services for the elderly and mobility-impaired, through this partnership.”

Services in the program include Trinity Metro’s bus routes, ZipZone rideshare, Access paratransit, Tarrant County Transportation Services, Northeast Transportation Services and Arlington’s Via and Handitran.