Texas Primary Runoff Election: No major issues at Central Texas polling locations
TEXAS - No major issues were reported at the majority of polling locations in Central Texas. Some locations did have wait times at some points in the day.
By the numbers:
According to the Travis County Clerk, 43,886 voters cast their ballots early, as of Thursday, May 21. That represents 4.7 percent of voter turnout.
Travis County has 154 voting locations, including the Travis County Clerk's Office.
Featured
Texas primary runoff: It's election day
Polls are now open across Texas for the primary runoff elections.
"It's important to vote. There are some elections that I care about today. I think I have voted every time since I've been 21, which is when I was first able to vote way back when," voter Aletha Huston said. "It's very easy here. I've been here before, and it's usually very well done."
Williamson County has a total of 30 polling locations.
As of noon Tuesday, the overall turnout in the county for Election Day is 4,758.
Why you should care:
Polling location wait times can be found here for Travis and Williamson Counties:
What they're saying:
In the March primaries, Williamson and Dallas Counties switched to precinct voting instead of county-wide voting, causing some voters to go to the wrong location. For May's runoff, voters could go to any polling location in the county.
The voters FOX 7 spoke to at the Round Rock Sports Center, which is a polling location, said they didn't have problems in the March primary, and things were smooth on Tuesday.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Texas Primary runoff elections
Tuesday's runoff election will help decide which campaigns score a spot on the November ballot.
"I think the walk from here to the Sports Center door was longer than the wait time and how long it took me to vote," voter Susan Gallo said. "It's awesome, you know, less than two minutes, well worth going. It's our responsibility to get out there and vote."
"I do get text message notifications of when voting starts and when early voting begins and what have you. I just happened to get one today. That's what actually triggered me to come out today, knowing that today was the official Election Day," voter Paco Martinez said.
Due to redistricting, some voters may be voting in a different Congressional district than before.
Dig deeper:
The Travis County Clerk says the Travis County Republican Party requested that early voting ballots not be counted until Election Day. This is a step towards implementing a new state law that will take effect in 2027.
That will require early voting and Election Day ballots to be counted and the results to be posted together after polls close on Election Night.
The Source: Information from interviews conducted by FOX 7 Austin's Angela Shen