Long lines but few problems as Texas wraps the first week of early voting

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FORT WORTH — A few isolated problems have punctuated a relatively smooth kick-off to early voting in Texas, election officials and voting rights activists said.

Responding with remarkable speed to squash misinformation, election officials in North Texas and Austin have repeatedly assured voters that equipment works properly and votes are recorded accurately.

In Tarrant County, Texas’ largest swing county, a voter claimed a printed ballot did not reflect his selection for president. Videos of voters repeating the man’s claim — that a machine switched his vote — briefly circulated on social media.

In actuality, the county believes the man made the wrong selection while voting. After notifying officials, poll workers canceled that ballot and the voter was allowed to cast a new one. Since the incident, both the Tarrant County Elections office and the county judge have encouraged voters to review their choices before casting their ballots.

“Tarrant County Elections has no reason to believe that votes are being switched by the voting system,” the county said in a news release on Tuesday.

Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson, a Republican, also chimed in.

"All voting systems in Texas are designed to give voters an opportunity to review their selections before casting their ballot,” Nelson said in a press release on Wednesday. “I encourage Texas voters to use this built-in opportunity to double-check the selections.”

Early voting began Monday, and the last day to early vote is Nov. 1. During early voting Texans can vote at any polling location in the county where they are registered to vote. Election Day is Nov. 5.

Elections in Texas and across the U.S. have been under intense scrutiny since the 2020 election, in large part due to unfounded claims from former President Donald Trump and his allies who falsely claim he won four years ago. In the years since, Republican legislatures including Texas’ have rewritten laws in the name of “election integrity.” More recently, Texas Republicans led by Attorney General Ken Paxton have without proof raised concerns over noncitizens voting.

Voting rights activists have pushed back calling these changes and lines of attack “voter suppression.”

Emily French, a policy director at Common Cause Texas, a nonprofit that advocates for expanding voting rights, said the group received 850 calls about voter issues to their hotline within the first four days of early voting, slightly up from 804 in 2020. The main issues voters called about included voter registration problems, concerns about political groups trying to convince voters to cast ballots for particular candidates standing closer than the 100 feet requirement at polling places and long lines.

“I'm really pretty surprised to see this mid-week of early voting, still seeing long lines,” French said.

French said long lines are most common at the beginning and end of early voting, mid-week is a lull. However, she pointed to a three-hour wait time at some Bexar County locations on Wednesday, lines wrapped around buildings in Montgomery County and people waiting an hour in the 90-degree sun in Austin.

“Even as far as Odessa, we got a report of really long lines and fewer voting machines than in previous years,” she said.

In Dallas County, the tablets poll workers use to check in voters, known as electronic poll books, had several glitches on the first day of early voting. Poll books were displaying black screens, repeated error messages, and printing the wrong ballot types for some voters — all of which contributed to long wait times at polling sites. County officials say the problem has been fixed.

On Friday, the Bexar County elections department announced an election worker had been assaulted at a polling site Thursday. The worker was treated and back on the job Friday, Texas Public Radio reported.

Texas has added 1.7 million registered voters since 2020, bringing the number up to 18.6 million — the most the state's ever had.

Despite the long lines, statewide voter turnout was slightly down this year after the first three full days of early voting compared to the 2020 presidential election, a Texas Tribune analysis found. As of Friday morning, at least 3.5 million Texans had voted early or turned in their absentee ballot — about 19% of registered voters.

That trend was reflected this week in Hidalgo County where early voting is down compared to 2020. A total of 67,230 people voted early during the first four days of early voting this year compared to 73,143 people who voted during the same period in 2020.

Despite the drop, Elections Administrator Hilda Salinas said the turnout has been “amazing.”

“It’s exciting because we’re seeing these types of numbers,” Salinas said.

She added early voting there has gone smoothly but encouraged anybody to reach out if they had any questions.

Back in Fort Worth, voters said they showed up to vote early this week in spite of the state’s Republican leadership.

Paul Johnson, 81, said he’s voted early for years to avoid crowds. In the months leading up to the election, Johnson said he heard Gov. Greg Abbott’s rhetoric around noncitizens voting and linked it to the history of voter suppression and intimidation that has long targeted both Black and Latino communities.

In late August, Abbott claimed that the state had removed more than 1 million ineligible voters from its rolls, including more than 6,500 noncitizens. A Texas Tribune investigation with ProPublica and Votebeat found the latter number was likely inflated.

“I think [Gov. Abbott] has an agenda to eliminate minority voters. That’s the plan they have,” he says.

Jaye Taunton, also 81 and a lifelong Fort Worth resident, has always voted early. She said fear-mongering should not be a reason to sit out of what she sees as a critical civic duty. She recalled the sacrifice of previous generations of Black Americans and others who fought for the right to vote.

“Don’t be fearful. Come out and vote. Your vote is your voice,” she said. “That’s all you have.”

Disclosure: Common Cause and Texas Secretary of State have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.