PORT ARTHUR, Texas — Voters in Orange and Port Arthur hoping to cast their ballots, hit some snags on the first day of early voting across Texas.
In Orange, one voting box at the Expo Center jammed. Orange Co. elections administrator Tina Barrow tells 12News voters were still able to vote, but had to put ballots in a locked box until officials could get the machine working properly.
Barrow says the machine was only out of order for a short time.
Jefferson County voters who showed up to vote early at the Port Arthur Sub-Courthouse were unable to vote for President, U.S. Senate among other county-wide races, according to Jefferson County Clerk Carolyn Guidry.
Guidry says the judge booth controller (JBC), which connects all of the other voting machines to ensure voters receive the correct ballots, was not functioning properly at the Sub-Courthouse on Lakeshore Dr. as early voting began Tuesday morning.
Guidry tells 12News that the JBC passed all tests before malfunctioning Tuesday morning. A new JBC was installed by 11:30 a.m., Guidry says.
Voters, who went to the Sub-Courthouse to vote before the new JBC was installed, were encouraged to go to the nearby Port Arthur Library or come back to the Sub-Courthouse at a later time to vote.
The ballot issue is particularly confusing since voters in Port Arthur are actually voting in two different elections, city secretary Sherri Bellard explained.
The city's election from May was postponed to November 3rd due to the coronavirus pandemic. That forced those city races on a separate ballot than federal, state and county-wide races (i.e. President, U.S. Senate).
The problem with the JBC only involved county election machines and not the city only ballots, Bellard said.
Voters who voted in the city races are eligible to vote in the federal election. Many went to another voting location or were told to come back to the Sub-Courthouse at a later time, Bellard said.
There were no issues reported at other precincts in Jefferson County, where voters were greeted by long lines as the polls opened on the first day of early voting Tuesday morning.
12News found nearly a hundred people waiting in line Tuesday morning at Rodgers Park and at the Judge John Paul Davis Community Center in Beaumont. The wait was upwards of 30 minutes, but by lunchtime, the wait was down to 10-15 minutes.
There were also long wait times at the Port Arthur Library. Wait times were considerably less at the Precinct One Service Center in China and the Beaumont Courthouse in downtown Beaumont.
