Tarrant County elections officials say they received some calls from voters reporting long lines Tuesday morning as primary voting got underway.
Heider Garcia, elections administrator for Tarrant County, said they heard of complaints Tuesday regarding the number of voting machines dedicated for democratic voters versus republicans.
However, this is something both local political parties agreed to, Garcia said.
According to Garcia, there are a certain number of machines in each polling place dedicated only for use by Tarrant democrats and a certain set aside for Tarrant republicans. The distribution of machines is based on the voter turnout from the past two primaries, Garcia said.
A tweet from the elections administration responding to online criticism Tuesday read: “Both parties were offered to share equipment to avoid this situation, they did not agree to and chose to go with the numbers of machines deployed. We wish they had taken our advice."
This means in some locations, voters may have found more machines for republicans than democrats Tuesday – and vice versa, according to Tarrant County Democratic Party chair Deborah Peoples.
Peoples told NBC 5, they agreed to this set up because they wanted voters to have a good experience. In the past, she said some felt mistreated by republican judges.
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According to Peoples, their office heard complaints from about 10 polling locations Tuesday. However, they knew this was going to be a potential problem, which is why they were urging people to vote early.
Edith Abila of Fort Worth waited in line for about an hour at a public library Tuesday before she was done voting, but she said she did not mind if it meant getting to cast her ballot.
"I always vote and I always bring my children, so they can see what it’s like," Abila said. "I was surprised a lot of people [came] out, especially in the Hispanic community. Sometimes a lot of times people don’t want to vote. They think it doesn’t make a difference, and I saw a lot of people that came out."
In comparison, republican voter Vanessa Forgey waited in line for a fraction of the time at the same location.
"You feel kind of awkward walking to the front of the line when you know that everybody standing there is a democrat," she said. "But everyone in there is talking about the same thing. You can’t make your voice heard on Facebook, but you can at the polls."
Overall, Peoples said she felt this was a “good problem to have” because it shows people are voting in large numbers.
“I’ve been calling people. We’ve been out there thanking people for waiting in line. We feel at the end of the day, it’s going to be worth it to wait,” she told NBC 5.
Like Peoples, Tarrant County GOP chair Rick Barnes said he also agreed the current system was the best thing for voters.
“The one thing I’ve already done once this morning is when I was at one polling location and we had a line of democrats and less on the republican side, we actually offered two of our machines to the other side. Whether they came and got them yet, I don’t know because I had to leave but we’re willing to make those compromises through the day,” Barnes said.
Polls close at 7 p.m. Tuesday. If there are voters still in line, elections officials say everyone in line will still be able to vote before the location closes for the night.
