Want to avoid long early voting lines in Tarrant County? How to check when to vote
Long lines to vote seem to be a good sign of voter interest, though the wait times at the polls can be disruptive to your schedule.
But what if you could track wait times before you go? A new Tarrant County voter map featuring a color-coded wait time map makes this possible.
A message on the Tarrant County website warns voters that the map is “for general reference purposes only and may be revised at any time without notification to any user.”
The message, however, goes on to say that the county makes no guarantees regarding the accuracy. Here’s how the map works.
How can I track wait times before going to vote?
The Tarrant County Early Voting Center lookup tool features three colors, red, orange, and green, that represent expected wait times.
Wait times longer than 40 minutes are shown in red, times less than 40 minutes are shown in orange, and 20 minutes or less are shown in green.
What is the best time of day to vote?
Voting during the first hour a polling station is open is actually not beneficial, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center, though some people may not have a choice due to work or school.
A 2018 BPC election poll found that the longest lines were seen in the first hour at 69% of precincts. When the doors opened, 63% of people had to wait the longest.
“While precincts that have long lines right when the polls open are slightly more likely to have long lines later in the day, most precincts with long lines at the opening see those lines recede fairly quickly,” the BPC said. “ However, as the day progresses, if a precinct has a long line later in the morning or in the afternoon, it is unlikely the lines will shorten appreciably until closing time.”
According to the BPC, the main cause of long wait times is the misallocation of resources to meet service needs. That means there aren’t enough ballots, polling booths, poll books, or voting machines to accommodate everyone.
Election officials must regularly gather data on the number of individuals in line at each polling station under their control in order to efficiently manage polling stations and shorten waits.
“Lines at polling places can be studied—and brought under control—by using approaches and tools that businesses have been employing for decades,” The BPC said.
This story was originally published October 24, 2024 at 3:05 PM.
