Early Voting Comes to An End

Early voting wraps up across the state Friday night in an election that's already set a Texas record.

According to the Texas Secretary of State, 13.64 million people are registered to cast ballots this election -- about 700,000 more than in 2008.

Early voting polls close at 7 p.m., but thousands poured into those sites throughout the day.

In Tarrant County, the Sub-Courthouse in Arlington was one of the county's busiest early voting location. However, Tarrant County Elections officials say early voter turnout is down this year compared to 2008.

But the final day of early voting saw a steady stream of voters, who all had their reasons for turning out early.

"[I] just figured I'd get it over with," said Paul Greer of Arlington. "I've known who I've wanted to vote for for a while; figured I'd just come and do it."

"I put it off, kept putting it off," said Reagan Weaver, also of Arlington. "Then, 'Oh, it's Friday. I don't have any other options, I got to go today.'"

Friday was expected to be the busiest early voting day of the November election.

"It is typical that people wait until the last minute to turn out," said Steve Raborn, Tarrant County elections administrator. "We're expecting between 40,000 and 45,000 voters today."

Raborn said early voting numbers overall are down about 12 percent from four years ago.

"We will probably be close to 400,000 by the time it's all over," he said. "Maybe just a little bit under that, but that's a good bit less than we had in 2008. I think we were at 432,000. We'll probably end up at 380,000 or 390,000 this time around."

There are about 975,000 registered voters in the Tarrant County, which means about one-third have voted early. Election Day could be a busy one.

"We're prepared for Tuesday," Raborn said.

Those voting Friday found lines at polling places, but most weren't discouraged.

"For a big line like that, they got through it pretty fast," Weaver said. "As long as you had your I.D. or whatever, it wasn't a hassle. Like I said, 15 minutes -- that's not a big deal."

Elections officials expected things to pick up after 5 p.m. but also said that voters would stream in throughout the day.

Those unable to vote during early voting can vote on Tuesday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.