Voter turnout overwhelmed some North Texas precincts Tuesday, and by late afternoon, Dallas County Republicans were facing paper ballot shortages at some precincts.
Voter turnout overwhelmed some North Texas precincts Tuesday, and by late afternoon, Dallas County Republicans were facing paper ballot shortages at some precincts.
Wade Emmert, chairman of the Dallas County Republican Party, said 180,000 ballots were printed – a far cry from the 44,500 total ballots cast during the 2012 GOP primary in Dallas. But just before 5 p.m., some precincts were running low, and there were reports that at least two polling places – Robert E. Lee Elementary and the Reverchon Park recreation center – were out entirely, according to The Dallas Morning News.
NBC DFW crews arrived to the Reverchon Park Recreation Center just before 6:30 p.m. to find long lines and frustrated voters. At least one precinct, number 3006, at the polling location was out of paper ballots, according to voters.
"That was miserable it took a long time," said voter Nicholas Flabiano.
Voters in other precincts voting at Reverchon Park Recreation Center were still able to cast paper ballots, and just before the polls closed, Elizabeth Alvarez-Bingham, the vice-chair of the Dallas County Republican Party, delivered additional provisional ballots to the polling location. Those will be cast as regular ballots.
"(The Elections Department) has been extremely helpful and printed out several ballots that we could use, and then they gave us some provisional ballots that could be used as well," Alvarez-Bingham said. "They'll be counted at the Elections Department, they'll be voted and put in a separate drawer so the Elections Department can count them later."
At of Tuesday evening, an exact number of precincts that ran out of ballots or were low on ballots was not available.
Read more for our media partners at The Dallas Morning News.
Polls Closed at 7 p.m. Tuesday
Texas voters were making their primary election choices in a big step toward the Nov. 8 general election and choosing a new president.
Texas is among 12 states taking part in Super Tuesday.
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The latest news from around North Texas.
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NBC 5's Jocelyn Lockwood and Sarah Mervosh, of The Dallas Morning News, contributed to this report.
