Early voting has started for Texas, with 17 constitutional amendments on the ballot for the special election. Early voting for the election began Oct. 20 and continues through Oct. 31, ahead of election day on Nov. 4.
During early voting, voters are allowed to vote at any precinct in their county. On election day, however, voters are only able to vote at their precinct.
Dallas College Richland campus has a voting location in the Jan LeCroy Center. Even though this location is on the campus, it still draws a wide range of demographics.
“We get a wide range. You would think it would be just students, but we’ve got people in all these residential communities and apartments that are circling the campus,” said Principal Election Officer Chrystin Pleasants.
Pleasants was happy to hear that Dallas County is sticking with its county-wide balloting system this election cycle. Dallas County adapted its county-wide system around six years ago, according to Pleasants. In this election statewide, voters are voting on constitutional amendments.
Different locations will sometimes have other elections taking place at the same time. Different cities in Dallas County pay the county to run these elections for them if they have a mayor they need to replace, or if they need to vote for their own city charter. Different ballots will have different things on them depending on location.
The system is built for big metro areas like DFW so you can live anywhere in the county and go to any vote center and vote on the basis of the voter’s address.
With this system, voters’ ballots will print specifically for where they live. Many counties in Texas have adopted this system. Some counties, however, like Collin County, have already started regressing back to hand-marked ballots.
“For us, I personally don’t see any benefit to it. It’s not something that there’s any value to me or voters. If I lived in Collin County, and they went back to the Dark Ages, boy, would I be unhappy living there. I would be so unhappy, I would move. Frankly, I would move.” Pleasants said.
The voting turnout for these local elections is very small compared to midterm congressional elections and presidential elections. In the 2023 elections, the Dallas County Elections Department reported a turnout of roughly %12.
“In places where the propositions are the only thing people are voting on, it’ll be lighter than you know in Houston, where they’re voting for a congressperson. That’s a big deal. So, you know, they’re going to have much heavier turnout than one would expect for this election.” Pleasants said.
Voters in Dallas County who are unsure of where to vote can visit dallascountyvotes.org, or their city’s website to find their correct location.
