During early voting of any election, you’re able to vote at any of four different locations throughout Orange County. So why can’t you vote at any location during Election Day? Hopefully as early as next spring, you’ll start having that opportunity.
Assuming approval from the Secretary of State, voters in Orange County will be able to vote at any of the approved locations throughout the county.
Commissioners held a public hearing Tuesday and there were a few questions from the public, but overall everyone that spoke supported the idea.
Elections Administrator Donna Alford and her staff have put together a plan while Commissioners Court has been able to find the money through covid grants, to purchase the necessary equipment to make voting easier.
Alford said around 69% of the votes cast during an election, happen during Early Voting when you can vote at any polling location.
Also, the number of voting boxes on Election Day will go down from 34 to 23. Although schools are great locations to host a ballot box because of the adequate parking, they have been eliminated from the proposed list of 23 sites. Vidor Superintendent Jay Killgo attended the meeting and applauded the consideration of eliminating schools from the list because student safety has become such a big concern over the years.
Currently there are seven polling locations at schools around the county. Finding locations is not as easy as it may sound. Alford said there must be plenty of room inside for voting as well as outside for parking. There must be a solid internet connection for the check-in process and enough electrical outlets to power the equipment.
Alford added the safety features of the kiosks are phenomenal. The machines do not use the internet which keeps hackers away. And also the process of collecting and counting the ballots should provide a quicker result which has been a problem in the past.
Once the State has agreed with the new plan, the list of polling places will be released.
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