Early voting numbers down nearly 175K in North Texas' largest counties from 2018
NORTH TEXAS (CBSDFW.COM) — The number of people in our four largest counties who've cast their ballots during the first four days of early voting has dropped by nearly 175,000 people compared to the same time during the midterm election four years ago.
Despite the soggy start to early voting, people out in the rain Friday who cast their ballots looked on the bright side.
Adnan Bahar said, "I don't care if it's snowing. I hate snow, if it's snowing, I'd be here to vote."
Another voter, Don Hall said, "Rain is no big deal, you get a little wet, but voting is the most important thing you can do as a citizen so come on out - get it done."
Leaders of both political parties said the weather has kept people away from the polls so far.
Tarrant County Democratic Party Chair Dr. Allison Campolo said, "Monday was our big excitement day for early voting, we expected a large turnout, which got rained out."
Rick Barnes, Chair of the Tarrant County Republican Party said, "The first day was down 30% from four years ago."
Both party chairs said it's not just the rain.
Records show fewer people are voting by mail and others insist on voting on election day.
In Dallas County, the number of people who've cast ballots in-person and by mail during the first four days of early voting dropped from 222,957 in 2018 to 148,367 this year.
In Tarrant County, the numbers fell from 178,814 four years ago to 110,661 this year.
Early voting is lower in Collin County as well this year with 90,346 who cast their ballots compared to four years ago when 119,114 did so.
Denton County saw 79,474 voted early, a slight drop from 2018 when 82,914 cast their ballots.
Barnes said Republicans don't trust the mail to deliver their ballots in time. "People were reminded as an example by the U.S. Postal Service two years ago they can't guarantee you that your vote will make it to the location, and I think people have responded to that."
Campolo said Democrats are leery of mail ballots after nearly 25,000 of them were rejected during the March primary because they didn't comply with the state's new ID requirements. "Democratic voters are turned off by it too because of what happened in the primary here in Texas, all across the state with voters really having a struggle getting their ballots counted. Both Democratic and Republican voters have been turned off by the mail-in voting process and so a lot of people are waiting to cast their ballots in person."
Campolo said fewer mail ballots are being rejected now. She also said many people wait until election day when more polling locations are open. "We have 50 voting sites right now and we have over 150 on election day and for some people, it's a lot more convenient to go to their local polling location on election day. and some folks feel it's a bit safer."
Barnes said there's another reason people wait. "There is a faction of people out there that consider the early vote to be when your ballot is most at risk and they're encouraging people to wait until election day. We have no factual reason to back-up that way of thought."
Both party chairs insist early voting is safe and urge people to vote at their earliest convenience and not wait until election day.
They expect more people to vote early during the weekend and next week.
Adnan Bahar said there's no excuse for people to sit on the sidelines. "If you don't vote, don't complain."
