The first day of early voting kicked off in North Texas with long lines at several polling locations.
In Dallas County, more than 56,000 people voted, with some still in line as late as 8:00 p.m. Election volunteers have already reported glitches with a few polling sites and said they plan to investigate the problems further.
The line at University Park Methodist Church in Dallas was wrapped around the building. On day one of early voting, voters were eager to cast their ballots.
“My wife told me it was time for early voting, so I was I was going to go punch it out right now,” said Dallas County voter, Chuck Huchison.
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He said the location had been his polling site for years and that he’d never seen a line as long as it was on Monday afternoon. It took him more than two hours to cast his ballot.
“Now it is a little over 4:20 p.m., and I’m done, so a little over two hours,” he said. “Typically, there is no wait, and you can just drive on up, park, go in, and in 10 minutes, you’re done, you’re out. This is atypical, but people are involved.”
Aside from the wait, he said his process went smoothly once inside. Others, however, reported glitches with the machines. Judge Melodee Armstrong is an election volunteer with the Legal Defense Fund. She spoke with NBC 5 outside the University Park Methodist Park polling location.
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“Something was going on with the printing of the ballots, and there was a glitch in whether or not their precinct numbers were being applied to their ballot,” said Armstrong. “They were concerned not only for themselves but also the folks who had voted before them where the glitch to exist and what would happen to those ballots.”
By 4:00 p.m. Monday, Armstrong told NBC 5 the glitch appeared to be fixed. Still, she said volunteers would escalate voter concerns to county officials to ensure fairness and accuracy. By midday, well over 100,000 votes had been cast across the state.
Matthew Wilson is a political science professor at SMU. He says Monday's turnout isn’t quite enough to determine what will happen on Election Day, but it does suggest heightened interest in this election.
“It also signals that there’s just a lot of interests in this campaign. To some degree driven by excitement, but also driven by fear and eager about the other side of the political spectrum,” Wilson said.
As early voting continues, Wilson said several factors need to be considered. One is already a reported issue at several polling sites across North Texas.
“How long do people have to wait in order to cast a ballot? Do 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 hear back.
Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 5. The last day to register to vote in the election is Monday, Oct. 7. Voter registration status can be checked here.
Early Voting -- What to Know
- Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 5; polls will be open in Texas from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. You'll be allowed to vote if you're in line by 7 p.m. on Election Day.
- Election Day Voter Guide: Find key dates, how to check your voter status, how to find out where and when you can vote early and on Election Day, and what you'll need to bring with you to the polls.
- Early voting runs from Monday, Oct. 21, through Friday, Nov. 1. Click here for early voting hours and locations for Collin, Dallas, Denton and Tarrant counties.
- The last day to request a mail-in ballot is Friday, Oct. 25.
- Click the links to filter races by category or county to see who is on the ballot. Federal races | State races | Collin County | Dallas County | Denton County | Tarrant County
