AUSTIN (KXAN) — Many poll workers in Travis County chose to stay home on Election Day, creating staffing shortages and technical difficulties. The Travis County Clerk’s office called it a rocky start and said “it seems people were fearful of the Coronavirus.”
That led to long lines and even some voters being turned away from polling centers and asked to go vote elsewhere. Many tell us they tried to wait it out, but some say they saw voters give up and leave without voting.
“Unfortunately, I had to leave the polling center as I commute to downtown Austin for work,” voter Emily Cantrell told us. She was not able to vote Tuesday morning as she planned. She hopes to be able to vote after work.
The Travis County Clerk’s office said it began “implementing its emergency procedures as soon as it became apparent that the number of no-shows was a problem.”
That included shifting some poll workers to other locations to even out the staff and help those polling centers that were the most severely understaffed.
“The ACC Stassney voting location was supposed to have 6 people staffing their voting spot but there are only 2 people there! Shoutout to the two that are there trying to keep it going,” one viewer wrote us.
“The Elections staff and other personnel are filling in as emergency recruits. Most locations are up and running now and we’re continuing to work on resolutions to get everywhere fully staffed,” the statement concluded.
They say the technical difficulties did not happen at every location. They said their teams are working diligently to fix the problem as soon as possible. They did not have an estimated time for when all voting locations would be back to operating normally. Some of the technical problems stemmed from the staffing shortages.
Some locations have managed to fix their problems. The polling center at Northwest Recreation Center had a printer issue they were able to resolve. A viewer told us it kept them down for more than 40 minutes, but they resolved the issue by 8 a.m.
In Del Valle, a viewer said three staff members failed to show up and no one was able to vote for about an hour and a half. She said about 20 people went elsewhere and one person reacted angrily.
Viewers have identified other problems at the following locations:
- ACC South Austin Campus, 1820 W Stassney Ln, Austin, TX 78745
- Milwood Branch Library, 12500 Amhert Dr, Austin, TX 78727
- Wheatsville Co-op, 4001 S Lamar Blvd, Austin, TX 78704
The problems have been fixed at these locations:
- Caldwell Elementary, 1718 Picadilly Dr, Pflugerville, TX 78664 (Problem fixed at 8:50 a.m.)
- Del Valle ISD Admin Building, 5301 Ross Rd, Del Valle, TX 78617 (Problem fixed at 8:20 a.m.)
- Northwest Recreation Center, 2913 Northland Dr, Austin, TX 78757 (Problem fixed at 7:45 a.m.)
Travis County voting center wait times
The technical difficulties are not isolated to the voting centers. Travis County has a voting map so you can see how long wait times are where you’d like to vote. The wait times were not updated for a few hours, but it appears to be working now.
Super Tuesday got off to a rocky start due to multiple no-shows of many election judges and poll workers. To the extent that the Elections Office was given a reason, it seems people were fearful of the Coronavirus. The office began implementing its emergency procedures as soon as it became apparent that the number of no-shows was a problem. The Elections staff and other personnel are filling in as emergency recruits. Most locations are up and running now and we’re continuing to work on resolutions to get everywhere fully staffed.
Travis County Clerk’s Office
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