Early voting for Texas primaries kicks off in Travis County; more than 6,000 people turn out
AUSTIN, Texas - No lines, no problem for voters on the first day of the Texas primaries. Candidate signs lined the walkways of the Millennium Youth Entertainment Complex. Katy Huff, an avid voter, took advantage of the short wait times to cast her ballot.
"There's not a soul in sight,” Huff said. “I was the 20th person to vote today, you can go in and out in five minutes, everyone is friendly, you can get a sticker of course and it's an arcade, who doesn't want to vote in an arcade."
The Travis County Clerk's Office hopes the weather didn’t dampen Tuesday’s turnout. By 11 a.m. about 2,000 people voted and by 4:45 p.m., about 6,000.
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"I think there are some folks who haven't made up their minds about who to vote for yet and that's okay, you can take a few more days to do that but don't wait too late, " said Travis County Clerk Dana DeBeauvoir. "Please early vote, please vote as early as early as possible during early vote because if everybody tried to wait until election day that's' going to be bad."
There are 34 early voting locations across Travis County. The county has a wait time map to help voters save time. If a person is already registered all they need is a photo ID, several types are accepted including a driver’s license or a passport. The Travis County Clerk’s office rolled out a new voting system in November. DeBeauvior called it a hybrid.
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"Electronic helps us make sure that we can get fast and accurate results on election night and the paper trail makes sure we use that as an auditable document to compare against the quick results we get on election night," said DeBeavouir.
There's a lot of candidates on the Texas 2020 March primary ballot. Nationally, the battle for presidential democratic nominees and local matchup’s between the Travis County District’s Office.
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Whether you vote today or tomorrow, do so before February 28. With 95 percent of eligible voters registered in Travis County, more than 821,000 people will be lining up to vote.
