(WBAP/KLIF) — With the first week of early voting coming to an end, election officials across North Texas are encouraging residents to get out and vote. Tarrant County Election Administrator Heider Garcia offers some advice on when to vote and how to avoid longer lines. Get out and vote sooner than later in case an unforeseen circumstance arises that prevents you from visiting the polls. The other piece of advice is to take advantage of early voting on Saturday and Sunday, as polling station lines tend to be less congested.
With an impressive number of residents taking advantage of early voting, election administrators in North Texas counties are seeing a shift in voting habits. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, new voting rules were implemented that allowed more mail-in ballots and early voting. Heider Garcia says the general rule was 45% for both early voting and election day voting, with 10% absentee ballots. During the COVID pandemic, those numbers shifted to 80% early voting and 10% for election day and absentee.
Another aspect of the 2022 Mid-Term Election is election integrity. As a result, North Texas election officials are focused on ensuring the voting process is safe and reliable. Many questions surfaced during the 2020 Presidential Election regarding election fraud, malfunctioning voting machines, and voter suppression. Garcia says his office is making voting integrity a high priority with inspecting and testing voting machines, as well as other election processes.
Early voting numbers have been impressive across the Metroplex, which continues through November 4th. Election day is November 8th.
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