First day of early voting breaks records across Central Texas
AUSTIN, Texas - The first day of early voting has wrapped up and counties are already reporting record numbers. Lines were out the door and some places had wait times for about an hour.
“It’s worth it. Gotta vote,” said Mirijam Wimberly, an early voter in Williamson County.
“We didn’t care how long the line was we came out today to make it happen,” said Daryl Anne Estill who also came out to vote early.
The first day of voting wasn't smooth sailing.
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Over in Travis County, which has a record 850,000 registered voters, they had some issues with a ballot box in the morning. "Within a few minutes, a tech was on-site as part of our plan we have them driving around in vans visiting these locations. Such that we have about a 10 minute response time,” said Dana DeBeauvior the Travis County Clerk.
Voter turnout in Williamson County also reached record levels for the first day of early voting. By 7 pm, they had already reported more the 22,600 ballots cast which is more than the 18,000 cast on the first day of early voting for the 2016 election.
“Day one to me was really important to me because I feel like it was going to set the tone for the rest of my friends and family and I really wanted to encourage as many people to vote in this election as possible,” said Estill.
Both long lines and COVID-19 weren’t enough to keep voters away.
“I was really worried to come out here and see a low turn out but coming out here today and seeing all the people social distancing, wearing their mask having hand sanitizer and not letting it get in the way was really inspiring,” said Estill.
While the lines were long, everyone we spoke to says it was worth the wait to exercise their right to vote.