In Dallas and Collin counties, Friday was a relatively smooth end to two weeks of early voting ahead of Election Day. By midday, elections administrators reported roughly 40% of registered voters had cast a ballot in Dallas County and 54% in Collin County, a robust start to the election leading up to Nov. 5.
This election cycle’s early voting period was marked by a rocky start, prompting the Dallas County Commissioners Court to extend poll hours on the last three days of early voting.
Poll workers on Oct. 21 in Dallas County experienced glitches with the electronic pollbook software used to check in voters, which resulted in wait times up to two hours long, and some were issued ballots for precincts where they do not live. Collin County did not report the same issues.
Voters still came out in droves throughout early voting in both counties, ensuring their ballot was cast well ahead of Tuesday. Collin County elections administrator Bruce Sherbet said the last day of early voting is usually the heaviest, and sometimes lines are longer that day than on Election Day itself.
Wait times were relatively short through Friday morning and afternoon, although some polling places saw wait times over 45 minutes.
Jade Osborne, 41, voted early Friday afternoon at the Samuell Grand Recreation Center. She said she normally votes early to avoid lines and waited about 30 minutes to vote Friday afternoon.
As a mother of two, Osborne said she wants to provide a safe future for her children through her vote. She believes it is important to vote to make your voice heard.
“Nobody else is going to do it for you,” Osborne said. “If you don’t speak up, you have no say in how your life is.”
Energy at the polls
Voting early ensures a ballot is cast ahead of Election Day, which may shorten wait times the day of the election and give people more time to make it to the polls, especially if they are unable to vote on Nov. 5. Dallas and Collin County voters expressed different motivations to get to the polls early.
Tammy Morris, 55, came to the Dallas College Garland Center to vote early on Friday because she said the center had good accommodations for people with disabilities. She said she needed to come at a time that also worked for her daughter, who helped get her wheelchair in and out of the polling station.
Morris said she wanted to do her “due diligence” as a citizen of a democracy. She declined to say who she voted for but said she believes God will put whoever the best candidate is into office.
Ana Chavira, 23, said Friday was her first time voting. She voted at the Dallas College Garland Center, and said she wanted to vote early to make sure she had time to bring the right paperwork.
Chavira said she was nervous but excited to cast her first ballot, and said the poll workers were helpful. She said she voted for Donald Trump for president but was more concerned with local and state races. Born in Mexico, Chavira said she is passionate about immigrants’ rights.
John Erickson, 62, came to the Garland Center to vote early on Friday to avoid the long lines on Election Day. On Friday, Erickson said he was able to get inside and vote within about 20 to 30 minutes.
Erickson said border security and inflation were two of the biggest issues that brought him to the polls, and said he was concerned about crime and drugs coming into the U.S. He said this election season is a “critical period” for the country, and said he supported Republican candidates on the ballot.
“We’re either going to go a very bad way or we’re going to go a very good way and hopefully dig ourselves out of the hole that’s been dug,” Erickson said. “We need to take the House and the Senate back, and we need to take the country back.”
At Oak Cliff Government Center Friday, voters were able to get in and out with little to no wait times and said the environment was relaxed.
Trinity Groves resident Caitlin Caminade, 28, voted at the center Friday and said she’s passionate about the privilege and right to vote as an immigrant to the U.S. She was most excited to cast her vote for president and senator, as well as propositions on the Dallas ballot.
Propositions S, T and U are three proposed city charter amendments initiated through a signature-gathering campaign led by nonprofit group Dallas Hero. The ballot measures have become the center of debate in the city, with campaigns for and against the propositions.
Caminade said she voted against the trio of propositions because she heard statements about Dallas Hero’s funding and membership.
“That was enough for me to give pause,” she said. “We can kick that can down the road until there’s more transparency.”
At Frisco Fire Station #5, a line formed from the doorway around one corner of the building Friday afternoon. Around 4 p.m., the wait time was 40 minutes.
Shiva Juluru, 46, and his wife Suvarna, 42, voted at the station but said they didn’t mind the experience. The couple said this is the second presidential vote they’ve cast a ballot in, and said they also voted early in 2020.
“I didn’t want to deal with the rush on Election Day,” Shiva Juluru said. “If something pops up, I don’t want to miss my vote.”
Elizabeth Brooks, 37, said she voted for Kamala Harris on Friday at Samuell Grand Recreation Center. She said she wanted to vote for a candidate who shared her values, which she said included a woman’s ability to choose what happens to her body.
Brooks also said she voted in favor of Proposition R, a measure that will decriminalize small amounts of marijuana in Dallas. As a social worker, Brooks said she feels it’s important to encourage rehabilitation for people who use drugs rather than criminalize them.
By the numbers
Though Dallas County had a rough start to early voting with technical issues and ballot mistakes, the last two weeks have had a high, consistent voter turnout, elections administrator Heider Garcia said.
As of Friday around 1 p.m., Garcia said about 590,000 Dallas County voters had cast a ballot, around 40% of the roughly 1.4 million people registered to vote in the county.
In Collin County, more than half of registered voters cast a ballot early this election. Around 54% of registered voters in the county had already cast a ballot as of noon Friday, Sherbet said, around 405,630 people of 748,572 registered voters in the county.
The numbers aren’t yet as high as turnout rates last time Americans decided their next president. In the 2020 presidential election, 780,456 people voted early in Dallas County, 55.8% of registered voters, data from the Texas Secretary of State shows. In Collin County, 451,106 voters cast a ballot early, around 69.5% of registered voters.
It’s not an apples-to-apples comparison, Sherbet said. In 2020, the early voting period was extended by six days, making it hard to compare this year’s early voting turnout to the last presidential election.
At the end of early voting, hundreds of thousands of voters in North Texas have already decided on the country’s next leaders and voted on local issues. As Tuesday inches closer, Garcia recommends people who have not yet voted take time to research the candidates and propositions, which can cut down wait times at the polls.
Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday at hundreds of voting centers in Dallas and Collin counties, the last opportunity to cast a ballot in the 2024 election.