AUSTIN, Texas — Over the weekend, the Travis County clerk said the county broke early voting records, with over 120,000 people voting early for this year's Texas primary.
On Monday, the total cumulative in-person and mail voters totaled 131,622, which is a 16% turnout, according to the Travis County Elections Division.
That surpassed turnout for other highly-populated counties in the Lone Star State. Bexar County totaled 12.1%, Tarrant totaled 11.9%, Harris totaled 10.2% and Dallas totaled 10.1%.
"Travis County has had an excellent turnout for early voting," Travis County Clerk Dana DeBauvoir said.
Although early voting turnout was record-breaking, voters can still expect to see long lines at polling places on Super Tuesday.
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"Voters are now going to have extra long lines on Election Day," DeBauvoir said. "Please don't wait until the last hour. You will be putting yourself in at least a three-hour line, and it could be worse."
Before heading to the polls, you can check online to see if you are currently registered. And to help alleviate traffic, there's an interactive map on Travis County's website that shows where and how long wait times are.
According to the county, the Ben Hur Shrine in North Central Austin, Austin Community College, UT and grocery stores typically have the longest lines.
"Grocery stores, as much as we love them, tend to have the longest lines," DeBauvoir said. "The Millennium Youth Complex, though, is very close to downtown and typically does not have a line and it's one of our mega centers. So I would recommend our downtown voters go over to the Youth Millennium Complex and vote there and vote earlier in the day if at all possible."
Voters can also expect to see hand sanitizer and disinfectant materials at polling stations.
"We always have disinfectant materials at the polling stations, always have. So we will have the normal Purell for hands and sanitizing wipes for the equipment," DeBauvoir said. "Please do not use your own personal wipes on our equipment. We need to use what will not harm the equipment. So, don't bring your own."
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The cutoff to get in line at polling places is 7 p.m. But after that, polling places can't tally until everyone has voted.
"If voters are still voting in line at 10 or 11 o'clock at night, then we can't tally the ballot box. It doesn't come in for us to vote. So, if voters are voting late, results will be late by the same measure," DeBauvoir said.
Travis County rolled out new voting machines in November 2019. Here's how they work:
- Select: At check-in, you will receive your ballot card that will have a notch in the top right corner. Insert your ballot card in the ballot marking device and make your selections on the touch screen.
- Verify: Review your selections on the summary screen. If satisfied, touch “PRINT,” and then verify your selections on the printed ballot card.
- Vote: Insert your ballot card into the scanner. It will be safely stored as a hard copy backup.
For more information about what to bring with you to vote, what will be on your ballot and more, check out the KVUE voting guide. And don't forget to download the KVUE app to get election results straight to your phone!
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