‘Stay in line’: Texas Election Day features long lines, power outages
Election Day in Texas for the 2022 midterm is expected to set the political path of the Lone Star State over the next few years, but polling locations at the state’s major universities are reporting long lines while other voting sites have experienced delays. The occurrence of long waits and voting machine issues were enough for Democratic hopeful for Texas governor Beto O’Rourke’s campaign to send out an email.
While it was a fundraising attempt, the email said the campaign is “seeing several problems that are interfering with people’s ability to vote,” including long waits, voting machines not ready for voters, and locations opening late.
The claim of polling stations opening late was confirmed by a report out of Bell County. Polling locations in that county were ordered Tuesday, November 8, by the Secretary of State to extend their voting times from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m., the Killeen Daily Herald reported.
Eight out of the county’s 42 polling locations opened an hour late because the switch from daylight saving time over the weekend caused the check-in systems to malfunction.
A Harris County voting center in Melrose Park was closed Tuesday after a Houston parks employee was electrocuted and killed, causing a power outage at the location, KVUE reported. Voters were redirected.
In San Antonio, four Election Day voting sites were hit with a power outage due to a downed power line in the area. CPS Energy reported that crews had restored power around 5 p.m.
Despite the delays, voters are being told to “stay in line,” especially when it comes to students in long lines at major Texas universities. The line at the University of Texas at San Antonio was said to have a three-hour wait at around 3 p.m. because the site only had one working computer.
At Texas A&M University, a video posted to Twitter on Tuesday showed a line of students snaking down multiple hallways. The tweet from Victor Shi, strategy director for Voters Tomorrow, says in the tweet, “These are the things no poll can capture because young people are very reluctant to answer the phone.”
Tweets posted Tuesday also showed lines of students waiting to vote that were just as long at Texas State University and the University of Texas at Austin.
Polls are set to close in Bexar County and across most of Texas at 7 p.m.
