Poll Closures, Consolidations, and Access

Elections are administered inside buildings. How many polling places a jurisdiction opens, where it places them, how long they stay open, and how many precincts it merges into a single site are administrative decisions that allocate the cost of voting across a community. Closures, consolidations and last-minute relocations lengthen travel, concentrate demand into longer lines, and strand voters who depend on transit or on accessible facilities. Since the Supreme Court set aside the Voting Rights Act's preclearance coverage formula in 2013, most of these decisions receive no federal review before taking effect. Brewer steps in when a polling place decision threatens to shape who actually reaches the ballot - an unexamined consolidation, unmet statutory notice obligations, an inaccessible facility, or a jurisdiction defending its plan against consequential exposure.

The Firm brings four decades of trial experience to disputes over election infrastructure, including landmark voting rights victories secured through the Brewer Storefront, its pro bono affiliate. The Storefront’s voting rights docket has reshaped how communities across North Texas elect their leaders. Remedies pursued here include injunctions restoring closed or relocated sites, court-ordered extension of polling hours, mandated deployment of accessible equipment and temporary access measures, remedial notice programs, and consent decrees carrying continuing compliance obligations. The Firm litigates in federal district and appellate courts, in state courts, and before administrative election authorities.