BEAUMONT, Texas — Some Southeast Texas polling locations are seeing a steady stream of voters as residents vote on candidates who they believe are focusing on important issues within their community.
In Beaumont, voters at certain locations, like Rogers Park, are reporting half an hour wait times. More of the older generation and a pretty even mix of men and women are being seen at the park.
Voters said two races that are bringing them to the polls are the governor’s race and the race for the District 22 state representative seat, long held by State Representative Joe Deshotel.
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Joe Deshotel, D-Beaumont, announced his upcoming retirement in mid-November of 2021. Three Democratic candidates and one Republican candidate are racing for his seat.
On the Democratic side of the ballot, Deshotel’s Chief of Staff Christian "Manuel" Hayes, Lisa C. Weber and Joseph Trahan are running in the primary. The winner of the primary will face Republican candidate Jacorion Randle in the general election.
Randle ran against Deshotel in 2020 and lost.
Jefferson County election officials said Southeast Texans have two ways to cast a ballot to make voting easy for everyone. Voters can either go inside a voting location to cast a ballot or use curbside voting.
“This is my first time experience voting by car because I just had surgery, so I wasn't able to walk out here today,” Reatha Barina, Beaumont voter, said. “So this this has been so convenient, and I'm so proud that, you know, we can provide this for those of us who can't get out right now. But I've never missed voting.”
Issues important to Barina are education and border control.
A steady flow of voters has also been seen at the Herbert Library in Port Neches. Voters there said the race they are keeping a close eye on is the race for Precinct Two County Commissioner.
On the ballot for that race are Republican candidates Alex Rupp, Cary Erickson and Shaun Miller. All three candidates said they have a mutual respect for one another and believe they each bring something unique to the table.
"This is a race where you have three different people that come from three different backgrounds," Miller said. "Everybody's got something that they bring to the table. Mine is 38 years in law enforcement since 1997 in a leadership role."
Erickson stressed the importance of area residence getting to the polls and having their voices heard. Erickson and Rupp believe the good weather has aided in getting voters to the polls.
“You see what's going on around the world today,” Erickson said. “I think everybody's aware of that situation. Our prayers go out to the folks over in Ukraine. Their a democracy. We're a democracy. People exercising that right is just a wonderful thing so we're very, very thankful that folks are getting out here and making their voices heard.”
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In most counties, election officials are reporting that there have been no issues with voting machines at any of their polling locations.
Liberty County polling locations opened at 8 a.m. There were two minor issues with machines that were fixed within five minutes.
Liberty County elections officials said turnout has been slow and is down by 50 percent from previous years. However, this trend has been reported statewide. Officials believe a contributing factor could be there are not a great deal of candidates on the ballots.
Chambers County elections officials said there have been no reports of issues with any of the voting machines at county polling locations. According to officials, there has been a steady stream of voters and wait times went up 10 percent during the lunch rush.
Hardin, Jasper and Tyler County elections officials said there have not been any issues with voting machines as locations.
Officials with the Jefferson and Newton County elections department said no problems have been reported at any polling locations.
Jefferson County polling locations will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday. On election night all results will be posted at 12NewsNow.com/elections.
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