Voters across North Texas made their way to the polls Election Day to cast their ballots for national, statewide and local elected officials.
UTA polling location on chopping block for early voting draws long lines
Voters lined up outside the Maverick Activity Center at UT Arlington Tuesday, waiting at times for about an hour to cast ballots at a polling place some county leaders wanted excluded from early voting on this year’s election.
One of the most popular polling places in the city on Tuesday afternoon, the line was largely made up of UT Arlington students and professors, with some other Tarrant County residents in the mix.
Breana Looney, 19, said it was her first time ever voting. As a UTA student, having the polling place on campus made it possible to cast her ballot between classes.
“Younger people do struggle to vote,” Looney said.
A part of that comes from days packed with classes and odd work schedules, she said, making it difficult to find the time to cast a ballot. An on-campus polling location removed those obstacles for Looney, and she said she thinks it had the same effect for other students.
Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, some Tarrant County College campuses, and UT Arlington in September faced removal from a list of early voting sites.
Tarrant County Judge Tim O’Hare questioned during a Sept. 4 Commissioners Court meeting why the county would use colleges as early voting locations and said it’s not the county’s job to get students to vote.
O’Hare faced criticism from the public and from Commissioners Alicia Simmons and Roy Charles Brooks who called the attempted cuts an act of voter suppression targeting people of color.
O’Hare said his concern was polling sites being too close together, pointing to UT Arlington and the Arlington Subcourthouse being about a mile from each other and calling it a waste.
He also described college and university campuses as inaccessible.
The attempts to remove colleges and universities from the list of voting sites failed on Sept. 4, with a 2-2 vote along party lines. UTA and other campuses were added back to the list Sept. 12 after commissioners approved a new proposal 4-1, with O’Hare the only dissenting vote.
That decision came after around four and a half hours of public comment that garnered cheers and claps from those attending.
For some like Looney, that made it possible to cast a ballot more easily.
“Your voice does matter,” Looney said. “Voting does affect our young generation and the next generation.”
James Hartley, Miranda Suarez, updated 4:10 p.m.
Arlington polling location vandalized
Arlington Police reported the Tarrant County Subcourthouse in Arlington was vandalized after midnight today, Tarrant County spokesperson Bill Hanna said in a statement.
Arlington PD discovered an individual had thrown an object at an exterior window on the west side of the facility. The words “Free Palestine” were spray-painted on a window in proximity to the broken pane, the statement said.
According to Hanna, Tarrant County Sheriff’s deputies and Tarrant County Constables conducted a sweep and determined no one made entry into the facility.
Arlington PD is currently the lead investigative agency for this incident. Tarrant County staff was able to clean up the graffiti and make temporary repairs to the window, the statement said.
The Subcourthouse and the election site opened at their scheduled time and are operating normally, according to the county.
— KERA News, updated 11:50 a.m.
Fort Worth voters prioritize health care
Over at the at the Thomas Place Community Center in Fort Worth, Bridget Tobleman, 44, described herself as fiscally conservative but socially liberal and said it was a tough choice at the ballot box
But she said there were some deciding factors.
“I want medical decisions to remain in the hands of physicians,,” Tobleman said. “I would like people to be able do what they want with their bodies without there being input from the government.”
Benbrook resident Chris Stolarzyk, 36, voted early, but he was out at the polls Tuesday morning dropping off his kids.
He said the next president should focus more on the economy and less on conflicts abroad.
“Prioritizing funding to sources for our citizens to benefit from and not necessarily funding international wars that don’t have a massive impact here locally,” he said.
— Penelope Rivera, in Fort Worth
Voters at AT&T Stadium in Arlington are directed elsewhere for parking
Voters showing up to cast ballots at AT&T Stadium Tuesday are being turned away from a parking lot by a stadium employee and sent to another side of the building.
Multiple voters told KERA News they tried to park in Lot 5, directly in front of the polling station, but were sent to Lot 7.
That parking lot, actually designated for AT&T Stadium employees for Tuesday, is about a five-minute walk from the polling place in the building and some voters said they got lost trying to find the entrance for voting.
AT&T Stadium is a superstation with 60 voting machines and 40 poll workers, one worker told KERA.
There was no line to vote at 10 a.m. Tuesday, but Sandra Portales said being sent to a lot on the other side of the building left her a bit lost walking around the building, where speakers play advertisements for AT&T Stadium tours on a loop.
Portales said the distance was inconvenient and she worries it might discourage voters who get lost from casting ballots or are in a hurry.
“I thought it was going to be easier, just come in and get out, but we had to deal with parking,” Portales said. “They sent us all the way to parking 7, this is at No. 5 and I was a little bit lost but after that everything was smooth.”
Lot 5, surrounded by campaign signage, is marked as the place for voters to go.
One poll worker told KERA the election judge would be addressing the parking issues.
Voters who are sent to Lot 7 can reach the voting station by walking to the right around the building until they reach the polling place.
C.J. Blaskowski, 23, is from Colorado but moved to Arlington a few years ago.
He also voted at AT&T Stadium.
“If you’ve never been to the stadium, at least you can see it that way,” he said. “This was a cool experience for sure.”
— James Hartley, in Arlington
Plano voters are concerned about immigration
Immigration was a top priority for many voters, including in Collin County – the third-fastest growing county in the U.S., and one that’s becoming increasingly diverse in the process.
Hailu Robelle, 61, moved to the U.S. from Ethiopia. He lived in Georgia until about five years ago, when he moved to North Texas. On Tuesday, he was voting at the Harrington Library.
“Some people wait 10, 12 years for asylum,” Robelle said. “We need someone who can resolve this. People are waiting. Some people do not have a work permit, they are suffering. We want someone who can take care of the immigration process.”
“I’m an immigrant at the end of the day,” he said.
—Caroline Love, in Plano
Denton voters turn out early to vote
Voters steadily made their way to cast their ballots at the Denton Civic Center when polls in Denton County opened Tuesday morning. That’s where University of North Texas journalism student Caitlyn Yukna spoke with Denton resident Tyler Collins around 7:30 a.m. about why he voted.
“I voted because it is an American right, and this presidential election is probably one of the more important ones, so I decided to go out and vote,” Collins told Yukna and the Denton Record-Chronicle.
Although the bulk of attention was on the presidential race, one Denton resident was ready to ask voters to support recalling Denton City Council member Brandon McGee by signing a petition. Denton City Council member Paul Meltzer was also there collecting signatures from voters in support of recalling Denton Mayor Gerard Hudspeth.
Traction at the polls began to slowly increase around 8:30 a.m., with more residents ready to vote.
Polls in North Texas close at 7 p.m.
In Dallas, some tech glitches as voters weigh in on 18 propositions
As of noon Tuesday, voters cast more than 79,800 in-person ballots between early voting and Election Day, according to the Dallas County Elections Office.
Voters at some Dallas polling centers reported technical delays in getting a ballot Tuesday, including at the busy Oak Lawn Library site and the Chapel of the Cross.
At the Dallas College El Centro Campus downtown, first-time voter Darryan Martin said his experience was smooth.
“Simple. Not many people and they’re able to help you. They’ll tell you what to do,” he said. “For a first time person voting, it’s super easy.”
Dallas voters not only have federal races on the ballot – including a seat in the U.S. Senate – but 18 city charter amendments to decide on. That’s what brought Michael Anderson out to El Centro.
“I was kind of more interested in the local and state races,” he said.
Tamara Faye voted at the MLK Library in South Dallas. She said this election is voters’ “opportunity” to make the community better.
“I want to hone in on local matters,” she said. “We don’t talk about it enough, but these local amendments are very important.”
Faye is with the Decrim Dallas Coalition. She said Proposition R, which would decriminalize less than four ounces of marijuana and make it a lower enforcement priority for police.
“We have to vote smart,” she said. “It’s smart.”
-KERA News, updated 1:57 p.m.
This story will be updated throughout the day.