PORT ARTHUR, Texas — Voters in Port Arthur are voicing their concerns about casting their ballots in the upcoming midterms elections.
Jefferson County has new voting machines and many have never used or been trained on the new equipment.
This concern comes just days before early voting is set to begin on Monday, October 24, 2022.
Jessie Simmons and Tiffany Hamilton both live in Port Arthur.
"Me and my husband haven't been orientated on the machines yet, but we want to make sure that we know what we're doing when we go in to vote," Simmons said.
The only one near them is located inside the Jefferson County Sub Courthouse.
"Most of the services that are received in the courthouse close at four and are also closed during lunch time so it doesn't give our citizens, working citizens, the opportunity to test the machine," Hamilton said.
Tiffany Hamilton says she has been sending the precinct four commissioners office a request to get a second machine in Port Arthur.
"The response that we were given was that our numbers did not necessarily qualify. We didn't meet the qualifications because our numbers were low," Hamilton said.
Jefferson County Clerk Laurie Leister says the voting machine was placed in the sub courthouse for a reason.
"Of course it's election equipment and everybody wants to make sure their election equipment is secure so we need to have it supervised all the time when they are there. The supervision comes from the commissioners office," Leister said.
Leister also says if voter have issues with testing the machines, they can reach out to the county clerk's office.
"Time was tight, we knew it was tight when we got the equipment, but part of our grant was to have this equipment ready to use for November 8th. If we missed the November 8th deadline our grant would only have been half of the $3.2 million," she said.
Leister reassures that poll workers have been trained and there will be help available for voters who need it.
"It's just like an ATM machine. If you use a smart phone or a iPad this is not going to be an issue," she said.