Live updates: Here’s what’s happening with wait times as Tarrant County goes to polls

Lines were light and there were relatively few problems as Tarrant County voters headed to the polls Tuesday.

Countywide, voters cast ballots for the U.S. House of Representatives, governor, attorney general and the Texas House and Senate.

Locally, voters will pick a new county judge and district attorney. The ballot also includes races for county commissioners, justices of the peace and district judges.

Jeanie Potthoff said the economy was the top issue on her mind when she cast her ballot in Arlington early Tuesday morning.

“(There’s) too much uncertainty,” she said.

Melanie Johnson also came out to vote in Arlington shortly after the polls opened at 7 a.m. She told the Star-Telegram that voting is a freedom everyone should take advantage of.

“It’s our duty,” she said.

The Tarrant County Sub-Courthouse where Potthoff and Johnson voted experienced some problems with its computers about 20 minutes after the polls opened, but they were up and running again by 7:30 a.m.

Hannah Sand, a Fort Worth resident, said Tuesday was her first time to vote in person. She told the Star-Telegram that the process went smoothly for her and there was no wait time at her polling place, Trinity Terrace, when she cast her ballot at noon.

Sand said she was surprised to see there were so many voting locations and she was able to vote a short distance from where she lives.

Daniel George said he thinks voting is important to “keep government in check.” He told the Star-Telegram that even though voters don’t always get the best options on the ballot, hopefully they can keep the worst ones from winning.

Beto O’Rourke visits North Texas on Election Day

An energized crowd gathered around Beto O’Rourke, a Democrat challenging incumbent Republican Greg Abbott for governor, outside a Dallas polling place Tuesday. Most cheered for the governor-hopeful, but some jeers broke through as he addressed attendees of the rally at Fretz Park Library.

The scene was tense at times, with law enforcement monitoring the area. One person chanted “loser” on the outskirts of the crowd as people gathered for photos. Another called out questions to O’Rourke about why he wanted to “transition kids.”

After giving a speech, O’Rourke told reporters he was feeling optimistic about his chances in nearby Tarrant County. The county has long been considered the largest remaining Red, urban county in Texas, but has gone for President Joe Biden and O’Rourke in recent election years.

“The voters in Tarrant County after eight years of failure from Greg Abbott are voting for change,” O’Rourke said, later adding, “We’re betting big on Tarrant County, on Dallas County and North Texas in this election.”

O’Rourke is spending Election Night in El Paso. Abbott will be in McAllen.

Technical glitches

About 200 people had voted as of 1:15 p.m. at Jo Kelly School in Fort Worth, despite a problem with a machine that made it necessary to send voters to other locations for approximately 45 minutes to an hour while it was replaced, according to election judge H.B. Wise.

Wise said other than that glitch everything else had gone pretty well so far.

He said the biggest issue was people who aren’t registered. He guessed he had had to turn away about 15 people as of 1:30 p.m.

Wise said this happens every election. People move and don’t register to vote in their new county, for example.

“People aren’t as plugged in as they need to be on the voting process,” he said.

Wise said his job is to ensure that everyone who should vote can and those who aren’t properly registered for whatever reason don’t.

Voters line up in morning

At the Tarrant County Sub-Courthouse in Arlington, 13 people lined up outside by 7 a.m., waiting for the doors to open.

By 7:20 a.m. there were reports that the computers weren’t working and had to be rebooted. Some of the people left to find other places to cast their vote.

Frank Vance was outside calling his wife, trying to find another polling location. He told the Star-Telegram that he wanted to make sure he voted. He said he’s seen too many people who mouth off about the government but don’t do their duty and vote.

By 7:30 a.m. the computers were up and running again and a steady stream of people were coming in to vote before heading on to work or school.

By 8:30 a.m. the line of voters at the Bob Duncan Center in Arlington stretched out the door and the wait time was estimated to be at least 10 minutes long.

Diana Smith said there had been about 15 people ahead of her in line, but the wait time wasn’t too bad and everything was running smoothly inside.

Smith said she’s never seen politics so ugly and she just voted for who she thought would best for the job.

“We need some changes,” she told the Star-Telegram.

Wait times

The majority of Tarrant County polling locations showed a wait time of less than half an hour, according to Tarrant County’s election website.

There were also some locations with no data available.

Around 3 p.m., St. Francis Village in Crowley and Ruth Ditto Elementary School in Arlington both reported wait times of more than an hour.

A handful of other locations around Tarrant County also showed wait times between 30 minutes and an hour.

Staff writer Eleanor Dearman contributed to this report.