As of Sunday night political officials say Tarrant County is second in the state in ballots cast. The Tarrant County polling place seeing the most turnout is in Keller, a community that’s become a political battleground in recent years. NBC 5’s Keenan Willard spoke with voters and polling experts, who say the energy is only going to continue into Election Day.
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On Monday, with four days of early voting left, political officials say Tarrant County has cast the second-most ballots in Texas.
The Tarrant County polling place with the highest turnout is Keller, a community that has become a political battleground in recent years.
NBC 5 spoke with voters and polling experts who said the energy surrounding the election was only expected to continue into Election Day.
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“We’re politically minded,” said Remonia Rosewell of the Keller community.
On a Monday morning over a week before Election Night, the line to vote early at Keller Town Hall was out the door.
“I’m surprised the line’s not longer today,” said Rosewell.
People campaigning outside the voting site said the turnout had been this way since early voting began.
Election data through Sunday night showed that more than 367,000 ballots had been cast in Tarrant County, the second-most in Texas, according to the Tarrant GOP.
And the Tarrant County polling place that’s seen the most voters is Keller Town Hall. Some voters said that didn’t surprise them.
“There’s a very limited area right here that’s very conservative,” said Rosewell. “And right now, there’s so much difference in the conservatives and the liberals.”
In recent months, the Keller community has been involved in multiple political conflicts, many involving the school district.
Among them was a debate over Keller ISD’s pronoun policy for LGBTQ students and the shutdown and later reinstatement of a production of The Laramie Project, a play about the murder of a gay Wyoming college student.
Some voters said local and national political conflicts drove more conservatives to the polls in Keller.
“Inflation, taxes, it’s hard to live these days,” said Deborah Wartelle. “So we need to get Republicans back in there, and more Americans are standing up.”
NBC 5 went to an expert who said the high turnout in Keller resulted from politics and population.
“There’s two things that are happening at the same time,” said Craig Murphy, a political consultant with Murphy Nasica. “One is that Keller is the fastest-growing area in Tarrant County.”
EARLY VOTING IN TARRANT COUNTY
Murphy said the rapid growth in North Tarrant County has been driving more people to the polls there – many of them relocated Republicans.
Combined with the current political climate, it’s been putting Keller’s turnout through the roof.
“Every time you got Trump on the ballot you tend to have record-breaking turnout,” said Murphy. “Because both sides are very moved to go and vote.”
With eight days to go until the results, Tarrant’s most packed polling place showed no signs of slowing down.
“I think it’s going to get busier,” said Wartelle. “Because a lot more people are going to say, 'Oh, no, it’s time to go, I’ve got to go.'”
Experts expect Tarrant County to break its record for the most votes cast in a single election next week.
