North Texas sees record turnout, challenges on first day of early voting – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

The first day of early voting began in North Texas with long lines at several polling locations.

In Dallas County, more than 56,000 people voted, some of whom were still in line as of 8 p.m. Poll workers have already reported disruptions at some polling locations and said they plan to investigate the problems further.

The line at University Park Methodist Church in Dallas was wrapped around the building. On the first day of early voting, voters were eager to cast their ballots.

“My wife told me it was time for early voting, so I wanted to reject it right away,” said Dallas County voter Chuck Huchison.

He said the location has been his polling place for years and he has never seen a line as long as it was Monday afternoon. It took him more than two hours to cast his ballot.

“It’s now a little over 4:20 p.m. and I’m done, so a little over two hours,” he said. “Usually there’s no wait, you can just drive along, park, walk in and in ten minutes you’re done and out again. This is out of character, but people are involved.”

Aside from the wait, once inside, the process went smoothly, he said. Others, however, reported problems with the machines. Judge Melodee Armstrong is a selectman at the Legal Defense Fund. She spoke to NBC 5 outside the polling place at University Park Methodist Park.

“There was something wrong with the printing of the ballots and there was an error as to whether or not the precinct numbers were reflected on the ballots,” Armstrong said. “They were worried not only about themselves, but about the people who voted before them, where the mistake was and what would happen to those ballots.”

As of 4 p.m. Monday, Armstrong told NBC 5 that the error appears to have been fixed. Still, she said volunteers would relay voter concerns to county officials to ensure fairness and accuracy. By midday, well over 100,000 votes had been cast across the country.

Matthew Wilson is a professor of political science at SMU. He says today’s turnout isn’t quite enough to determine what will happen on Election Day, but it does show increased interest in this election.

“It also signals that there is just a lot of interest in this campaign. Driven to some degree by excitement, but also driven by fear and curiosity about the other side of the political spectrum,” Wilson said.

As early voting continues, Wilson says several factors need to be considered. One of these is already a reported problem at several polling locations in North Texas.

“How long do people have to wait to cast a ballot? Will we get long lines that would actually discourage people from voting? And of course we would hope that’s not the case,” Wilson said.

NBC 5 reached out to the Dallas County elections office Monday afternoon but did not receive a response.

Election day is Tuesday, November 5th. The last day to register to vote is Monday, October 7th. Voter registration status can be checked here.