Update 4:23 p.m.: More than 90,000 people have voted in Travis County on Tuesday, officials said.
Update 3:50 p.m.: The waiting time to vote at polls located at grocery stores in Travis County is more than two hours long, said County Clerk Dana DeBeauvoir on Tuesday afternoon. She said voters should try to find other locations to casts ballots and should get to the polls as soon as possible.
There are 15 grocery stores in the county that are used as polling locations, she said. Voters who get in line at 7 p.m. Tuesday at grocery stores may face a three or four-hour wait when there could be another polling location just down the street with a much shorter waiting time, DeBeauvoir said.
More than 81,000 people had voted in Travis County by 3:30 p.m., she said. DeBeauvoir said she expects that by the time voting is finished on Tuesday a total of 150,000 people will have cast their ballots.
The voter turnout during the 2016 primary election day was 120,000 voters, she said.
Update 3:10 p.m.: More than 78,000 people have voted in Travis County as of 3 p.m. Tuesday, said a Travis County clerk tweet.
Update 1:25 p.m.: More than 57,000 people had voted in Travis County by 1 p.m. Tuesday, according to a tweet from the Travis County clerk.
In Williamson County 21,869 voters had turned out at the polls by early Tuesday afternoon said Connie Odom, a county spokeswoman. Hays County had 8,036 voters at the polls by 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, an official said.
Previously: The Travis County clerk’s office said fears of catching the new coronavirus have disrupted staffing at voting locations across the county at the start of Super Tuesday.
Travis County Clerk Dana DeBeauvoir said 11 people, including judges who were responsible for opening some of the 175 polling locations across the county Tuesday, did not show up for work out of fear of catching the new coronavirus. DeBeauvoir said this was on top of the 31 judges who also said last week they would not come to operate the polls out of fear of catching the virus or another sickness.
“They had a variety of excuses,” DeBeauvoir said. “Election judges are comprised of a group of older adults.They just decided they did not want to do this and decided the news was scaring them, so last night we were on the phone with the parties trying to get more workers.”
DeBeauvoir said it usually takes six, but no less than three, judges and poll workers to operate just one polling location. The county clerk’s Office worked all morning to find replacements, however, while they were doing so other workers were also abandoning their posts once they realized there were not enough workers to open for voting.
As of 9 a.m. Tuesday, DeBeauvoir said Travis County had 164 vacancies after using up all of its emergency backup workers. However, all of the polling locations were now back open and running, according to the county clerk.
As far as wait times, DeBeauvoir said she had no idea how long it was taking for someone to cast their vote.
MAP: Click here to see wait times at Travis County polling places.
“The elections will go on,” DeBeauvoir said. “They always do.”
Mark Escott, interim medical director and health authority for Austin Public Health, said during a coronavirus briefing in Travis County Commissioners Court that he stood in line and voted Tuesday and everyone else in Austin should, too.
“We should not be afraid to go to our polling places and do our civic duty today,” Escott said. “We should not be afraid today of community spread. There may be some stage in the future where we put out warnings about public interaction, but that’s not today.”
The county clerk said she now believes the new coronavirus, which has become a global health crisis with at least 10 people quarantined in Texas, is being used to disrupt the 2020 primary election.
“Nothing like this has ever happened before … Fortunately, we have backup plans,” she said.
Williamson County has had no issues with voting so far on Tuesday morning, said Connie Odom, a county spokeswoman.
“Voting has been brisk so far this morning in Williamson County,” said Chris Davis, the county’s election administrator. The public can find their closest polling location and check on wait times prior to heading to the polls.
Map: Click here to see wait times at Williamson County polling places.
Wait times at most polling locations are shorter than 15 minutes, Odom said. A few locations have wait times from 15 minutes to 45 minutes, she said.
Bastrop and Hays counties are also not experiencing any voting issues on Tuesday morning, officials said.
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