Early voting in Collin County introduces hand-marked paper ballots and party selection on tablets, amid challenges in finding polling locations due to rapid growth.
COLLIN COUNTY, Texas — Early voting begins Tuesday in Collin County, marking the first primary election since the county transitioned to hand-marked paper ballots.
There are 36 early voting locations across the county. Election workers spent Monday and much of the past few weeks setting up equipment and preparing rooms for voters.
Kaleb Breaux, the county’s elections administrator, said the change to hand-marked paper ballots is one of the biggest differences voters will notice this primary. And while hand-marked ballots is the primary way to vote in Collin County, there will still be ballot marking devices on hand for those who request it. Kaleb tells WFAA the county still utilizes polling tabulators to count ballots.
“Voting itself can be very intimidating. Some people just wanna come in and out and vote privately,” Breaux said.
Another change: voters will no longer have to verbally state which party’s primary they wish to participate in.
“Now they’re able to make that selection on an actual tablet screen,” Breaux said.
Breaux said there will be 86 Election Day locations — eleven fewer than the number prescribed by the state. He is legally allowed to combine precincts to meet requirements, but acknowledged challenges in fast-growing areas.
“We’re just finding it difficult to find more polling locations in those areas,” he said, referring to growth in the northern and eastern parts of the county.
Breaux added that some locations have grown weary of the political climate.
“I think the burden of dealing with some of those challenges sometimes makes it harder to being willing to be used as a polling location,” he said.
President Trump has pushed for enhanced voter ID laws across the country. Breaux tells WFAA that an ID is required to vote in Texas. The President has also floated the idea of ending all mail-in ballots. Collin County has not made any decisions as it relates to mail-in ballots.
In Collin County, about one in five registered voters participates in the primary — a rate that outpaces most other counties in Texas. Breaux credited his staff for keeping operations running smoothly.
“They come from all areas, all communities within this county…who take their job very seriously and take pride in what we do.”
On the ballot are several consequential statewide races. You can read them all in our voter guide here.