愤怒、受伤，同时还感到被针对……这是塔兰特县一些以黑人和西班牙裔居民为主、低收入家庭众多的社区的选民在得知自己所在社区的投票站被削减后的真实感受。
Angry, hurt and targeted.
“今年11月，我会带着满腔的愤怒去投票，”50岁的帕特里克·班塔说道。他坦言这是他第一次在自己的院子里竖起政治宣传牌，而且所有这些宣传牌都是支持民主党的。他表示，共和党试图“压制选民投票权”的行为让他感到非常愤怒，因此他再也无法投票给共和党人了；他将共和党比作“杀虫剂（Raid）中的害虫”。本月早些时候，由共和党主导的塔兰特县委员会（该委员会负责管理包括沃斯堡和阿灵顿在内的北部德克萨斯地区）决定：将2022年中期选举时的投票站数量从316个减少到今年11月的224个，降幅接近30%。
That’s how voters in some of Tarrant County’s heavily Black, Hispanic and low-income neighborhoods said they feel after learning that polling places in their communities are being cut. “I’m voting with my anger this November,” said Patrick Banta, 50, who said he has put political signs in his yard for the first time, all of them for Democrats. He said he was fueled by resentment over Republicans’ attempt at “voter suppression” and that he could never vote for a Republican now — likening his reaction to the party to “roaches on Raid.”Earlier this month, the Republican-led Tarrant County Commissioners Court, which governs the northern Texas county that includes Fort Worth and Arlington, voted to cut the number of Election Day polling places from 316 in the 2022 midterm elections to 224 for this November — a reduction of nearly 30%.
然而在同一时期，该县的人口和选民数量却在持续增长。支持这一削减决定的人认为这样做可以节省纳税人的开支，并且某些地区的投票率本来就很低。
Over that same time period, the county’s population and its number ofed voters have grown. Supporters of the cuts have cited taxpayer savings and low turnout at some locations.
大部分投票站的削减发生在该县的两座最大城市——沃斯堡减少了40个投票站，阿灵顿减少了22个；较小的城镇也同样受到了影响。
Most of the reductions came in the county’s two largest cities — Fort Worth lost 40 polling places and Arlington lost 22 — but smaller towns lost sites, too.
但在一些地区，选民们似乎还不知道投票站被削减的消息。在接受MS NOW采访的大多数选民中，没有人知道自己平时使用的投票站已经被取消了。例如，在沃斯堡的76119邮政编码区域内，三分之二的投票站被取消了。其中一位名叫拉肖恩·威廉姆斯（54岁）的选民是黑人，且需要使用轮椅。她表示自己感觉自己的社区正在成为攻击的目标：“这真的让人感到非常痛苦，我认为这种做法是不对的。”
But in some areas, word for the cuts doesn’t appear to have spread. Most voters MS NOW spoke with didn’t know their usual polling places were eliminated, including in Fort Worth’s 76119 ZIP code, where two-thirds of the polling places were slashed. Among them was Lashaun Williams, 54, who is Black and uses a wheelchair. She said she feels her community is being targeted. “It actually hurts,” Williams said.
根据美国人口普查局的数据，她所在邮政编码区域的居民中，近90%是西班牙裔、黑人或亚裔；五分之一的居民生活在贫困中；几乎11%的家庭没有汽车（威廉姆斯本人也在其中）。她表示，这些投票站的削减不仅促使她去投票，更让她决心全力支持民主党候选人。
“I don’t think it’s right.”According to Census Bureau data, nearly 90% of the residents in her ZIP code are Hispanic, Black or Asian; a fifth live in poverty; and nearly 11% of households don’t have access to a car — Williams among them.
那三名投票赞成削减投票站的共和党人，去年还重新划分了该委员会的选区边界，从而增加了他们在该委员会中获得额外一个共和党席位的机会。负责主持该委员会会议的塔兰特县法官蒂姆·奥黑尔（Tim O’Hare）在9月1日的会议上明确表示了这一点，当时会议讨论了这些投票站的削减计划。
She said the cuts are part of what’s motivating her not only to vote, but to support Democrats up and down the ticket. The three Republicans who voted to approve the cuts also redrew the commissioner precinct map last year in a way that increased their chances of securing an additional Republican seat on the court.
“我们这么做是为了让委员会中的共和党成员占多数，”奥黑尔说。
Tarrant County Judge Tim O’Hare, a Republican who presides over the court, said as much at a Sept. 1 meeting, where the polling cuts were discussed.
当MS NOW询问“削减投票站是否属于另一种为共和党谋利的选区划分手段”时，奥黑尔以及委员会中的另外两名共和党成员均未作出回应。
“We did it to have a majority Republican Commissioners Court,” O’Hare said.
在这个历史上一直由共和党主导的县里，政治竞争异常激烈。今年早些时候，民主党候选人泰勒·雷赫梅特（Taylor Rehmet）赢得了德克萨斯州第9选区的特别选举；该选区涵盖了该县大部分共和党势力较强的地区，而唐纳德·特朗普在2024年的选举中在该选区以17个百分点的优势获胜。这一意外结果引发了全国媒体的关注，也为即将到来的中期选举中的共和党人敲响了警钟。
O’Hare and the court’s two other Republicans did not respond when MS NOW asked whether cutting polling places was another way to gerrymander in their party’s favor. The political stakes are high in this historically Republican county. Earlier this year, Democrat Taylor Rehmet won a special election for Texas Senate District 9, which includes a large swath of the county’s most Republican territory and which President Donald Trump carried by 17 points in 2024.
根据县选举官员在9月1日的会议上的说明，重新划分选区时的一个重要原则是避免将投票站设置在彼此相邻的位置。然而，MS NOW发现，在第2选区内（该选区主要由白人居住），竟然有两个投票站相隔仅一条街道。
The upset made national headlines and served as a wake-up call for Republicans heading into the midterms. One of the criteria for drawing the new polling map, according to a presentation by the county elections administrator at the Sept. 1 meeting, was avoiding locating sites next to one another.
“这个地区非常倾向于共和党，”一位在该地区居住了50年的民主党人士表示（他出于担心报复而不愿公开自己的身份）。该地区的两名共和党居民也承认该地区属于共和党的“铁票区”；不过，在这两个投票站附近的草坪上，仍可以看到民主党候选人詹姆斯·塔拉里科（James Talarico，共和党提名的联邦参议员候选人）和吉娜·希诺霍萨（Gina Hinojosa，共和党提名的州长候选人）的宣传海报。
Yet MS NOW found two polling places across the street from each other in a majority-White ZIP code in Precinct 2, the commissioner precinct Republicans are trying to flip. “It’s very simple, this is a Republican neighborhood,” said a Democrat who has lived in the area for 50 years and who wished not to be identified out of fear of reprisal.
这位长期居住在该地区的居民表示：“我们生平第一次在自家院子里挂上了民主党的宣传标语，大家都非常渴望投票。”
Two Republicans in the neighborhood agreed that the area is deep red, though signs for Democrats James Talarico, the party’s U.S. Senate nominee, and Gina Hinojosa, its nominee for governor, dotted some lawns near the two polling sites.
共和党委员们以及选举管理部门都没有回答关于为什么这两个投票站会设置在彼此对面的街上的问题。
Like Banta, the longtime resident said they had put up Democratic yard signs for the first time in their life and are eager to vote.
许多学生也因此失去了投票地点。德克萨斯大学阿灵顿分校（University of Texas at Arlington）和北德克萨斯大学健康科学中心（University of North Texas Health Science Center）各有一个投票站被取消；塔兰特县学院（Tarrant County College）的校园内也有两个投票站被取消。对于数千名学生来说，这意味着他们失去了在2022年中期选举期间使用过的便利投票地点。
Neither the Republican commissioners nor the elections administrator responded to questions about why the two sites sit across the street from each other. Students lost polling places, too. Four early-voting sites on college campuses were eliminated: one each at the University of Texas at Arlington and the University of North Texas Health Science Center, and two at Tarrant County College campuses.
“这明显是一种压制选民权利的行为，”德克萨斯大学阿灵顿分校的学生安赫尔·埃斯皮诺扎（Angel Espinoza）说。他表示，这些投票站的取消让他更加坚定了投票的决心，而且他决定投票给民主党。不过，埃斯皮诺扎指出，正是特朗普政府的极端移民政策让他的共和党家庭成员在今年秋天倾向于支持民主党（包括他的家人塔拉里科Talarico）。
For thousands of students, that means losing a polling place that was convenient during the 2022 midterms. “It’s voter suppression,” said Angel Espinoza, a UT Arlington student who said the cuts have made him even more determined to vote, and to vote for Democrats. Still, Espinoza said, it’s the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement tactics, which he called extreme, that have his Republican family leaning toward Democrats this fall, including Talarico.
该县的两所大学之间存在鲜明对比：德克萨斯大学阿灵顿分校有42,000名学生，学生群体中少数族裔占多数，而这个选区正是共和党人试图争取控制的地区。除了投票站被取消外，该校也没有被列入选举当天的投票站点名单。根据谷歌地图显示，最近的投票站距离该校有1.2英里远，开车需要26分钟，或者步行需要26分钟。
The contrast between two of the county’s universities is stark. UT Arlington, which serves 42,000 students and is majority-minority, sits in the precinct Republicans are trying to flip. Besides losing its early-voting site, it isn’t on the list of Election Day sites either.
“我对此感到非常震惊，”住在校园里且没有车的德克萨斯大学阿灵顿分校学生奥黛丽·沃特金斯（Audrey Watkins）说。她表示，学生们时间和金钱都非常紧张，而这种额外的障碍反而让他们更加渴望投票。
The nearest polling place is 1.2 miles away by car, or a 26-minute walk, according to Google Maps. “I’m still mind blown from that,” said Audrey Watkins, a UT Arlington student who lives on campus and doesn’t own a car.
与此同时，位于沃思堡的德克萨斯基督教大学（Texas Christian University）被新增为选举当天的投票站点。这所大学有大约13,000名学生，学生群体中白人占多数，而该选区的共和党委员正在竞选连任。
Students are strapped for time and money, she said, and the added hurdle only makes her want to vote even more. Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, meanwhile, was added as an Election Day site.
在向MS NOW发表的声明中，UTA表示愿意作为投票站，但本轮选举周期并未被要求这样做。TCU表示，它一直定期作为提前投票站点，并将在今年的选举日参与，尽管县投票站名单显示，2022年提前投票期间或选举日它都不是投票站。
TCU, which has about 13,000 students and is majority-white, is in a precinct with a Republican commissioner up for re-election. In statements to MS NOW, UTA said it was willing to serve as a polling place but wasn’t asked to this cycle.
专员法院中的共和党人和选举管理员没有回应有关为何取消校园提前投票站点并加入TCU的问题。
TCU said it has regularly served as an early-voting site and will participate on Election Day this year, though county polling site lists show it was not a polling place during early voting or on Election Day in 2022.
周二晚些时候，阿灵顿市议会通过了一项决议，强调UT阿灵顿投票地点对学生和教职员工的重要性，并敦促县专员恢复UTA投票站。该措施还为选民提供免费乘车前往投票站的服务，这一努力至少可以追溯到2019年。这些举措正促使一些倾向共和党的UTA学生远离共和党。丹妮尔·霍尔曼表示，共和党人越极端，她发现自己越倾向民主党。“红色越极端，我就越开始偏向蓝色，”她说。
The Republicans on the commissioners court and the elections administrator did not respond to questions about why the campus early-voting sites were dropped and TCU was added. Late Tuesday, the Arlington City Council passed a resolution highlighting the importance of the UT Arlington voting location for students and faculty and urging county commissioners to restore the UTA polling site. The measure also offers voters free rides to polling places free of charge, an effort that dates back to at least 2019 The moves are pushing some Republican-leaning UTA students away from the GOP. Danniellie Holman said that the more extreme Republicans become, the more she finds herself leaning toward Democrats. “As further extreme the red goes, I start leaning a little bit more towards the blue,” she said.
回到自家门廊上，在他那雷赫梅特和塔拉里科的草坪标牌旁，班塔仍在怒火中烧。
Back on his porch, beside his Rehmet and Talarico lawn signs, Banta was still fuming.
“关闭投票站只是压垮骆驼的最后一根稻草，”他说。与MS NOW遇到的许多住在被取消投票站附近的选民一样，他已准备好在11月投票给民主党。
“Closing the polling places was just the cherry on top,” he said. Like many of the voters MS NOW met who live near eliminated polling sites, he’s ready to vote Democratic in November.
中期选举仅剩几周，结果将显示雷赫梅特的胜利是异常现象，还是对共和党人的警告，即便他们正在重新划分政治边界以谋取优势并削减投票站。
With the midterms just weeks away, the results will show whether Rehmet’s win was an anomaly or a warning for Republicans, even as they redraw political boundaries to their advantage and cut polling places.
“我希望他[雷赫梅特]是整个民主党浪潮中的第一张多米诺骨牌，”班塔说。
“I hope he [Rehmet] was the first domino in the whole Democratic wave,” Banta said.
文章《“我带着愤怒投票”：投票站削减在共和党执政的得克萨斯县引发强烈反弹》MS NOW
The post‘I’m voting with my anger’: Cuts to polling places spark backlash in a GOP-run Texas county MS NOW