With one week of early voting completed, there are reports of high tensions at some polling places.
Dallas County Elections Administrator Toni Pippins-Poole said her office had received reports of harassment at the polls, even a poll watcher standing over voters in Mesquite.
"Being aggressive with the voters, being next to them and looking over their shoulders, asking them questions and demanding they take literature," Pippins-Poole said of the report.
She said the partisan poll watcher, who is not a county employee, was forced to leave the location.
Pippins-Poole said she received other reports of aggressive electioneering outside early voting locations, voters reporting people with campaign material following voters through parking lots.
In Garland, at the South Garland Branch Library, she said voters were subjected to a person driving by and shouting insults like "baby killers" through a bullhorn. There was a similar report at the Lockwood Branch Library in Dallas. In Richardson, at the Civic Center, voters reported someone making offensive remarks to voters.
"When I have this many voters that are complaining, that's become very serious," Pippins-Poole said. "We want the voters to come out, we want them to have a nice experience and we want them to come back."
In Mesquite, at the Lakeside Activity Center, there is a flurry of activity in one of the primary parking lots. Large campaign signs are stacked high, forming an informal fence along a narrow sidewalk to the polling location. Along the entrance, people handed out campaign material and worked to reach voters with their message before they walked in.
Pippins-Poole said the state and county don't regulate the size of signs as long as they are placed more than 100 feet from the polling site and it's legal to electioneer outside the 100-foot perimeter.
But some voters said they were concerned about the set up.
"I think it's just too overwhelming," voter Priscilla Counter-Nwoke said. "I think it's too much as far as I'm concerned. To me, I think it's intimidating really."
Conversely, voter Danette Hoffpauir saw it as a positive sign people care about the election.
"It was fine for me," Hoffpauir said. "It didn't bother me at all. In fact, I do appreciate the people coming out."
The Texas Civil Rights Project said the narrow entrance from a primary parking lot at the Mesquite early voting location may intimidate some voters. Hani Mirza, an attorney working with the Texas Civil Rights Project, told NBC 5 the organization is asking for election staff to ensure the passageway is clear and those electioneering leave plenty of room for voters to pass.
The Texas Secretary of State's Office said the presiding judge has the authority to ensure safety and prohibit electioneering within 100 feet of a polling place. Outside that zone, the presiding judge does not have authority to enforce electioneering provisions. Read the state's election advisory here.
The Secretary of State's Office said Dallas County Elections Administrator Toni Pippins-Poole informed the state she notified law enforcement on several occasions.
In an emailed statement to NBC 5, Texas Secretary of State Rolando Pablos said:
"We strongly condemn harassment of Texas voters in any form or fashion. We encourage Texans to make their voices heard at the ballot box, and to be respectful and courteous to other voters wishing to do the same. Keep in mind that it is illegal to electioneer within 100 feet of a polling place in the State of Texas, and everyone should continue to treat their fellow Texans with dignity when they cross back over that 100-foot line."
