As Harris County’s 280 polling places began closing up shop Tuesday night, officials from the county clerk’s office said they received reports of last-minute primary voters waiting in long lines, but no widespread problems with technology or people being turned away.
“You can’t be in the wrong precinct since we have countywide voting in Harris County,” said Rosio Torres-Segura, communications administrator for the county clerk’s office, around 8:30 p.m. “It’s been a good election, no major problems.”
That wasn’t the case in Dallas, where hundreds were told they were at the wrong polling location. Dallas previously allowed voters to cast ballots at centralized locations on Election Day but switched this year to an assigned neighborhood precinct system, a change prompted by the county’s Republican Party, according to the Dallas Morning News. A judge ruled Tuesday evening that, because of the changes in voting location rules, hours would be extended to 9 p.m.
The Texas Supreme Court later issued a ruling that Dallas County must separate any votes cast by people who weren’t in line by 7 p.m., temporarily blocking the original ruling from a district judge. According to the Texas Tribune, the state attorney general’s office intervened and said it wasn’t properly notified of the extended voting hours. Williamson County also reported voter confusion stemming from changes to precinct-based polling locations.
Harris County had its own political power struggle this year, as the GOP opted out of holding the primaries jointly, which would have allowed the parties to share poll workers and equipment. Republican Party Chair Cindy Siegel said that’s the way it’s been done for decades, with the exception of a 2024 joint primary, and Republicans wanted a process they could trust.
Democratic Party Chair Mike Doyle said it was an effort by Republicans to manufacture chaos so the state government could take control of Harris County elections. Long lines were expected late in the day on Tuesday, and County Clerk Teneshia Hudspeth told the Houston Press she didn’t expect that final results would be reported until early Wednesday morning.
“Not only is [a split primary] going to have a financial complexity to it, double the amount of costs and we have to put more technical people in the field, [a joint election] makes it easier for voters and that’s what should matter in this election,” Hudspeth said. “Splitting election workers and voting equipment could mean slower processing times and an increase in wait times.”
Around 4 p.m., the Harris County Elections Department said more than 126,000 people cast in-person ballots, in addition to the more than 346,000 early votes that were cast. Due to heavy traffic around NRG Stadium related to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, voters who planned to cast ballots at the Wyndam Hotel Houston on Kirby Drive were told in a social media post that they could visit any of the other Harris County polling places.
Harris County is the third most populous county in the United States, trailing Los Angeles County and Cook County, Illinois. With 2.7 million registered voters, running an election is a tall order, Hudspeth said, pointing out that political parties contract with the clerk’s office to operate their own primaries, and Hudspeth’s staff provides support.
“There are no elections that are flawless because it involves human beings,” she said.
Torres-Segura added that, “by the end of tonight, we project this will be the first midterm primary election in which we surpass a combined half-million voters across early voting and Election Day.”
Harris County’s early voting tallies showed the following candidates leading their races in the Democratic and Republican primaries, per HarrisVotes. Note that statewide races such as governor, attorney general and U.S. Senate are decided by all of Texas’ 254 counties. The results below only show early voting numbers for Harris County.
Democrat – United States Senator
Jasmine Crockett 114,251 votes, 53.58 percent
James Talarico 97,020 votes, 45.5 percent
Republican – United States Senator
John Cornyn 47,147 votes, 39.08 percent
Ken Paxton 47,065 votes, 39.01 percent
Wesley Hunt 22,206 votes, 18.41 percent
Democrat – United States Representative, District 18
Christian Menefee 24,590 votes, 54.69 percent
Al Green 16,542 votes, 36.79 percent
Republican – United States Representative, District 18
Ronald Whitfield 2,096 votes, 54.15 percent
Elizabeth Vences 1,775 votes, 45.85 percent
Democrat – United States Representative, District 29
Sylvia Garcia 18,182 votes, 56.09 percent
Jarvis Johnson 12,383 votes, 38.2 percent
Robert Slater 1,853 votes, 5.72 percent
Republican – United States Representative, District 29
Martha Fierro 5,795 votes, 100 percent
Democrat – Governor
Gina Hinojosa 114,090 votes, 55.2 percent
Chris Bell 44,382 votes, 21.47 percent
Republican – Governor
Greg Abbott 89,297 votes, 76.47 percent
Pete “Doc” Chambers 16,595 votes, 14.21 percent
Democrat – Lieutenant Governor
Vikki Goodwin 99,240 votes, 49.78 percent
Marcos Velez 63,238 votes, 31.72 percent
Republican – Lieutenant Governor
Dan Patrick 100,907 votes, 85.95 percent
Timothy Mabry 8,932 votes, 7.61 percent
Democrat – Attorney General
Nathan Johnson 95,504 votes, 48.08 percent
Joe Jaworksi 56,317 votes, 28.35 percent
Tony Box 46,826 votes, 23.57 percent
Republican – Attorney General
Mayes Middleton 52,251 votes, 44.39 percent
Aaron Reitz 25,520 votes, 21.68 percent
Chip Roy 22,053 votes, 18.74 percent
Democrat – Harris County Judge
Annise Parker 96,663 votes, 48.55 percent
Letitia Plummer 74,608 votes, 37.47 percent
Matt Salazar 27,820 votes, 13.97 percent
Republican – Harris County Judge
Orlando Sanchez 28,899 votes, 25.95 percent
Marty Lancton 24,889 votes, 22.35 percent
Aliza Dutt 22,549 votes, 20.25 percent