In Travis County, Vote Anywhere Tomorrow
Travis County voters won't be restricted to their neighborhood polling station in tomorrow's constitutional election. Photo by KUT NewsAudio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Election Day is tomorrow, with 10 constitutional amendments and two Travis County bond proposals. and things will be a bit different for Travis County voters.
Voters in the county can go to any polling station with a “Vote Here” sign. County officials hope that this new voting program will increase turnout.
This election is a trial run; if the feedback from voters is positive, mobile voting may become permanent in Travis county elections.
“We have had so many people in the past who have shown up at what they think is their neighborhood polling place, only to find out that they’re mistaken,” County Clerk Dana DeBeauvoir told KUT News. “And then either it’s too late in the day, or they have too many other pressing things in their schedule, and they just can’t seem to make it to the other location to vote.”
DeBeauvoir says county officials don’t expect the change in voting procedure to affect the process on their end or the time it takes to tally votes. She says precincts will report their results at the end of the day as usual.
One difference will be that out-of-neighborhood votes will be included in the night’s tally.
“The factors in the time it takes us to tally have more to do with the time it takes the judges to bring the results in than with who voted during the day,” DeBeauvoir said.
She said Lubbock County had positive results when it started mobile voting.
Polls will be open tomorrow from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. The county clerk’s office has a full list of voting locations available for download.
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