Texas has closed more polling places than any other...

Hundreds of polling places have shuttered across the state as Texas leads the nation in what civil rights advocates call one of the most pernicious tactics aimed at keeping minority voters from casting ballots.

Texas has closed 750 polling places since 2012, the vast majority coming after the Supreme Court in 2013 ruled states like it — with a history of racial discrimination — no longer had to get pre-approval from the federal government to pass new voting laws or make changes to the election process, according to a new report by The Leadership Conference Education Fund released on Tuesday.

The report provides the most sweeping look yet at how states have jumped at their newfound freedom to make changes to the election process, and comes as Democrats in Congress push new legislation meant to bolster voting rights. Texas led the nation by far in what the report calls “systematic statewide efforts” to slash polling locations. The state closed more than twice as many polling places as Arizona, which landed second with 320 closures.

While many of the Texas polling places were shuttered as part of a statewide effort to shift to centralized voting centers — intended to make voting easier and more convenient — the report raises alarms about the lack of safeguards to protect voters of color. Voting rights advocates say there is ample reason Texas’ election changes should face extra scrutiny.

More Information Polling place closures since 2012 Harris County: 52 closures Dallas County: 74 closures Tarrant County: 27 closures Bexar County: 0 closures Travis County: 67 closures Fort Bend County: 18 closures

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“Texas has a long and dark history of voter suppression,” said Beth Stevens, voting rights program director at the Texas Civil Rights Project. “Texas is at the forefront of inventing new ways to suppress the vote — ways that other states often imitate.”

Dallas County, which is 41 percent Latino and 22 percent African-American, shut down 74 polling places — making it the second largest closer in the nation. Travis County, which is 34 percent Latino, closed 67 polling locations. Harris County, which is 42 percent Latino and 19 percent African-American, shuttered 52. Brazoria County, which is 13 percent African American and 30 percent Latino, closed 37, as did Nueces County, which is 63 percent Latino. All were among the top closers of polling places in the nation, according to the report.

“Decisions to shutter polling places are often made pretty quietly and without public notice, making intervention virtually impossible,” said Vanita Gupta, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference Education Fund, who presented the report to a House Judiciary Committee panel on Tuesday.

“As we’ve found, these closures have a cascading effect, causing long lines at polling places, transportation hurdles, denials of language assistance and mass confusion about where eligible voters may cast their ballots,” Gupta said. “For many people, these burdens make it harder and sometimes impossible to vote.”

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On the other hand, Gupta said it’s not necessarily a bad thing for states to close polling places — especially when they’re shifting to new systems like voting centers in Texas, which are largely seen as a progressive step to allow voters to show up to any voting center in the county, rather than hunting for their local polling place.

The report lauds Texas’ clear process for establishing voting centers, which allows counties to close 35 percent of their polling places in the first election after converting to centers and 50 percent in elections after that.

Harris County Clerk Diane Trautman, who has made establishing the centers a top priority since taking office in January, has said they make voting easier, as residents can more cast ballots near work or school.

"Our office will not be closing any locations," said Teneshia Hudspeth, a spokeswoman for Trautman. "in fact, we are opening all available locations from November 2018 and adding additional locations within the county-wide polling place program."

Harris plans 52 early voting sites and a total of 757 on election day.

Nevertheless, the report cautions that voting centers could go wrong if officials aren’t careful.

“Though intended to make voting more efficient and convenient, this law allows counties to make deep and immediate cuts to polling places and has no required safeguards to protect voters of color from discrimination,” the report says.

The 60 counties that participate in the voting center program account for 24 percent of the Texas counties in the report, but are responsible for about two-thirds of the state’s polling place closures.

Still, Gupta said, “often the same states that are closing polling places are also pushing discriminatory voting measures, including barriers to registration, purging voters from the rolls and photo ID requirements.”

Texas checks all those boxes.

In the past, states with a history of racial discrimination had to submit planned election changes to the federal government for so-called “pre-clearance.” But in a 2013 ruling in Shelby v. Holder, the Supreme Court essentially ended the practice.

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Advocates say new federal legislation is needed to bolster voting rights and keep states from reverting back to potentially discriminatory practices.

Democrats in Congress are pushing legislation that, among other things, would require states with voting rights violations in the last 25 years to submit to pre-clearance. Jurisdictions with high minority populations would also have to get federal approval for election changes.

At a House Judiciary subcommittee hearing on Thursday, U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert, a Texas Republican, said “there are a lot of problems that need to be dealt with” — namely voter fraud, which he said “disenfranchises all of the legally voting people.” But Gohmert said states shouldn’t be “punished” for past indiscretions.

“We should not be punishing generations for the sins of 50-year before generations,” Gohmert said.

ben.wermund@chron.com