How to beat the crowds and stay safe as early voting begins in Texas
Early voting gets under way Tuesday in Texas, and voters are strongly urged to wear face masks to the polling sites — but not the kind that say “Biden” or “Trump 2020” on the front.
Wearing any attire with a candidate’s name or slogan is considered campaigning, which makes it illegal within 100 feet of a polling site. Election judges have been trained to tell anyone wearing campaign garb to leave.
Tarrant County election officials say they are bracing for a record turnout and preparing to respond to any problems that pop up.
The Tarrant County Election Administration is taking several steps to help residents get in and out of the polling places with as much social distancing and convenience as possible.
The agency used much of its $2 million in federal stimulus funding to beef up the supply of voting machines, so that polling sites can let more people vote simultaneously, to reduce lines and minimize wait times.
Also, new technology is being deployed, including an interactive map that voters can use to get information about wait times at voting centers before heading out to vote. Residents can use any of the 50 voting centers, regardless of where they live in the county.
“We looked at everything in the past that has held us up, and asked ourselves, How can we invest in it and make it better?” said Heider Garcia, Tarrant County Election administrator.
Here are more details of what voters can expect:
Find a voting site with no lines
Early voting is available Tuesday through Oct. 30. Polls will be closed only on one day — Sunday, Oct. 18. Hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Oct. 13-17 and Oct. 19-23, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Oct. 24 and Oct. 26-30 and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Oct. 25.
Voters can go to any of 50 polling places across Tarrant County to cast their vote. Before leaving home, residents can check an interactive map on the Tarrant County elections office website to see real-time information about wait times at each site.
The map will feature dots colored green, yellow or red, to indicate whether wait times are short, so-so or long.
One easy way to find the website is to do a Google search for “tarrant county early voting map.”
In the past, as many as half the voters in Tarrant County cast ballots during absentee and early voting. But this time, officials say they expect the turnout to be at least 60% of the total.
Rick Barnes, Tarrant County Republican Party chair, said during a recent county election board meeting that the wait-time mapping is “going to be a huge opportunity for us, especially on election day.”
“I’m calling it the Disney World approach,” Barnes said. Then, he quipped, “Maybe next year, you can say if you voted for five years, you can have a fast pass.”
Bring a cheat sheet
Voters are encouraged to do their homework and write down their choices for votes ahead of time, to speed up the process once they get to a voting center. Voters are being asked to pick not only candidates for state and federal offices, but also make decisions about cities and school districts in many places. Depending upon where you live, you may be asked to vote on 40 or more items.
Also, straight-ticket voting is no longer offered, so even if you want to vote for all the candidates from one party, you’ll have to do it one candidate one at a time.
It’s OK to bring a cheat sheet with you to the polls, as long as it’s a piece of paper and not an electronic device. For example, you can print a sample ballot from the Tarrant County elections website, fill it out at home and bring it with you to the polls.
But be warned, it’s against the rules to use electronic devices such as mobile phones for your cheat sheet. Cameras are forbidden at polling sites and, since most hand-held phones and similar devices have a camera function, if you take anything that looks like a phone out of your bag or pocket, you likely will be stopped.
Mail-in ballots are still an option
The deadline for requesting a mail-in ballot — traditionally known in Texas as an absentee ballot — is Oct. 23. Voters who have received a mail-in ballot can drop it at a U.S. Postal Service collection site (including an old-fashioned mailbox) as long as its postmarked no later than Nov. 3, which is Election Day.
People with disabilities or those 65 and older are eligible to receive mail-in ballots even if they plan to be in Tarrant County during the voting period. College students, military members and others who know they will be out of the county also qualify.
Also, mail-in ballots can be dropped off in person at the Tarrant County Election Administration, 2700 Premier St., Fort Worth.
Leaders of both political parties praised the Tarrant County Elections Administration for operating a drive-through where eligible voters could drop off their absentee ballots — making it possible for them to skip the crowds at voting centers.
“We saw them put our ballot in a sealed ballot box. They were very professional,” Deborah Peoples, Tarrant County Democratic Party chair, said during a recent meeting of the county election board.
Peoples noted that the drive-through had a long line of cars. “We did have to queue up, but it went quickly.”
Reminder: Voters can only drop off their own ballot, and must show identification.
What if voting centers get too crowded?
In previous elections during a presidential year, elections officials used about 600 voting machines for early voting. This time, they will dispatch 993 voting machines to ensure that as many people as possible can get in and out of the polling places quickly, Garcia said.
Also, if the first week of early voting is unusually busy, the elections office is making preparations to add eight early voting centers to the 50 already approved, Garcia said. The additional voting centers, if needed, will be spread across the county.
“If you have places where turnout surprises you,” Garcia told the county election board, “we have some room to maneuver.”
What if trouble breaks out
Poll workers are being trained to watch carefully for anything that might cause disruptions at voting sites, Garcia said.
State law prohibits loitering outside a voting center, and election judges will enforce the law, Garcia said.
Anyone who causes a disturbance will be asked to leave and, if he or she refuses, the election judge will call 911, he said.
Also, for anyone who is worried about voter intimidation, many of the early voting sites are in libraries, schools and other public buildings where guns are prohibited and access can be restricted by the authorities.
What if your name isn’t on the registered voters list?
At the polling site, if an election worker can’t find your name on the list of registered voters in Tarrant County, you will be invited to fill out a provisional ballot.
Your provisional ballot will then be turned into the elections office, where workers will later investigate why you weren’t on the list and make a determination about whether to count your votes.
This story was originally published October 12, 2020 at 6:00 AM.
