Collin County voters wait in long lines on election day
Collin County voters wait in long lines on election day
Some voters in Collin County were met with long lines at their polling sites. The county switched to paper ballots this year, though officials have not said whether that’s what was causing the lines.
PLANO, Texas - Some voters in Collin County were met with long lines at their polling sites.
The county switched to paper ballots this year, though officials are not yet convinced that was the reason for the lines.
Collin County Long Lines
What we know:
SKY 4 flew over several polling places in Collin County on Tuesday. There were long lines at the Allen ISD Service Center and Plano ISD Admin Center. The line at Collin College in Plano wrapped around the building.
Some of the people that FOX 4 spoke to while they waited in line pointed fingers at the county’s return to paper ballots.
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What they're saying:
"From standing in line to when I finally got done voting about an hour," said Brian Eply.
Eply was one of the many patient voters who waited up to an hour long for what many considered a low-interest election in Dallas-Fort Worth.
Olivia Collinson, on the other hand, was not so patient.
"Currently, there’s about an hour wait for the back of the line. I just arrived. So, since it’s so close to the polls closing, I’m just gonna go ahead and go to another location to see if there’s a shorter wait time," she said.
Collinson was not alone. FOX 4 saw many people arriving at the polling location, looking at the line, and turning right around.
Collin County sees long lines on election day
Collin County voters experienced long lines at some polling locations. Some people were seen leaving the lines. Others complained that the voting process was slow, possibly because of the county's switch to a paper ballot system.
Collin County Paper Ballots
The backstory:
Voting in Collin County was different this year than in previous elections. The county recently switched from electronic voting machines to paper ballots.
Voters filled in the ovals by hand, and then the ballots were tabulated electronically.
Collin County Commissioners claim the paper ballots are better for transparency, although state commissioned audits found no evidence of election fraud in the county.
Collin County ditches electronic machines for paper ballots ahead of November election
Collin County is implementing a major change to paper ballots for the November election, citing transparency concerns despite its previous efficient electronic system, as officials train for the new process ahead of early voting next week.
What they're saying:
Elections Administrator Kaleb Breaux admits the paper process takes a little bit longer, plus new systems always take some getting used to. But he’s not convinced the paper ballots are a problem.
"You know, the data is just not there to support that yet. Now, maybe after the dust settles and we’re able to collect everything, maybe that’s something we can address. But I’m just not seeing the data to support that these wait times are because of a paper ballot," he said.
Breaux described Tuesday's election as the perfect storm.
"Traditionally, more people turn out early. It's normally a 75%-25% split. And, you know, we had two weeks of early voting that voters could have come and vote. And it's like half of them showed up during early voting and the other half showed up on election day," he said.
Breaux also attributed some of the longer wait times to people having preferences for where they vote, even though other sites had little to no wait times. And he said there was a tax proposal for a new emergency services district that could have driven some turnout.
What's next:
Breaux said his office is already identifying improvements for 2026.
"I think we can take a look at making our check-in process more efficient. And that could be, you know, working with our vendors to cut down on the print time of the ballots. It could be changing steps in the process of checking in voters. I think there's more to be done on voter education," he said.
He also believes there needs to be more education about what polling locations have shorter wait times because many locations had no line on Tuesday.
The Source: The information in this story comes from Collin County Elections Administrator Kaleb Breaux, interviews with voters waiting in line, SKY 4, and past news coverage.