2026 Election: Williamson County voters waste no time hitting the polls

WILLIAMSON COUNTY, Texas - Early voting kicked off across Central Texas on Monday, and Williamson County voters wasted no time hitting the polls. 

By the numbers:

According to election officials, about 13,500 voters had turned out by 2 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 19. They said they're on track to beat the 2022 midterms in which 15,000 votes were cast on the first day of early voting. 

With large turnouts expected, 25 polling locations were open across the county. 

"We've expanded our early voting locations. This is our high-water mark, so we have 25. We typically run about 20 early voting locations, and so we also recruited extra poll workers," says Bridgette Escobedo, the Williamson County Elections Administrator. 

Dig deeper:

At a Monday press conference, she also said that their "mega centers," which are larger polling locations, had been equipped with double the amount of voting machines to assist with long lines. 

According to the county's election map, several of the polling locations had wait times of less than 15 minutes, while Escobedo claims the average wait was around 30 minutes. 

FOX 7 asked Escobedo if there had been any polling issues reported across the county. We were told that there had been minor issues but no major incidents.

Even with the large turnout, Escobedo said that this year's first day of early voting did not appear to be on the same pace as 2024, where 27,000 voters cast their ballots. 

Local perspective:

However, it was a slightly different story at the Brushy Creek Community Center in Round Rock. At certain points throughout the afternoon the wait time was listed at more than 45 minutes. 

"I did not think it would be this much," said Sunil Kumar, a Williamson County voter. "It's usually not long at all. Maybe waited 5–10 minutes."

He said when he arrived, he saw about 60–70 other voters in line outside the community center. 

"I will say just in the amount of time that I was kind of waiting here, I've seen probably an additional 15 people walk up, and the line hasn't really been moving much," said Kumar, who decided that he would cast his early vote another day after seeing the long wait time. 

But for others, the line at the poll wasn't a deterrent to casting their ballot. 

"It wasn’t that long of a wait. I think they said it was 45 minutes, but I don't think we were there for 45 minutes," said Steve Giunta, alongside his wife Andra. "Last time we came for the presidential election, I mean, the line was eight times longer than that." For the couple, Monday's wait was a sign of commitment from the Wilco community.

"The longer you wait, the more people are voting. So we want people to vote," says Andra.

What you can do:

Anyone with questions or expecting voter issues is urged to reach out to the Williamson County Elections Department at 512-943-1630. 

Early voting runs from Oct. 19 through Oct. 30.