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Democratic Primary voting in Collin County Texas, one of the deepest red of all Republican counties in the United States, far exceeds Republican Primary Voting for the first time in nearly a generation. This upside down 2008 primary voting pattern was most unexpected in a county where Republican ballot totals typically far exceed Democratic ballot totals.In Collin County, the Democratic Party’s entire 2004 primary 12-day early voting total was 2,879 ballots cast and the Republican primary voting total was 6,679 ballots cast. The one day shorter 2008 primary 11-day early voting total for the Democratic Party was approximately 33,200 ballots cast and the Republican primary early voting total was approximately 22,000 ballots cast.
Texas Secretary of State Phil Wilson predicts that, based on the all time record 2008 early voting numbers, overall voter turnout for the March 4th election will likely exceed 26 percent of the more than 12.7 million registered voters in all of Texas. If that 26 percent voting ratio holds true for Collin County, then 98,469 of Collin County’s 378,730 registered voters will turn out to vote by the end of the March 4th election day. That means 43,269 Collin County voters are due to turn out on election day.
UNFORTUNATELY, for Democratic primary voters who decided to wait until Election Day to cast their ballots, the lines at many Democratic Precinct Polling Places in Republican heavy counties may be frustratingly long. Long lines and long waits at Democratic Polling places are likely to occur because Texas Secretary of State Phil Wilson (R) used 2004 primary voting pattern numbers to allocate Election Clerks and County owned Voting Equipment to 2008 Democratic Primary Precinct Polling places all across Texas, including the typically Republican Collin County.
Accordingly, Democratic Party offices in counties like Collin County have been allowed to hire only one Election Clerk and “rent” only two voting booths from their respective county government’s Election Administrator office to staff and equip many Democratic Precinct Polling Place on March 4th. (Collin County is home to Premier Election Solutions, better known by its former name of Diebold Election Systems, maker of the Diebold Touch Screen Voting Machine. The Collin County elections office exclusively uses the company’s TXs e-Voting Machines.)
If the early voting two-thirds to one-third Democratic to Republican ballot ratio holds for election day, then approximately 28,600 Democratic ballots will be cast in Collin County on March 4th. That is a substantially larger number than the 2004 Democratic Primary ballot number upon which the 2008 precinct by precinct staffing and equipment allocation is based. Some staffing and equipment increases have been authorized for a very limited number of polling places during the past week, but it is a case of too little too late.
Democratic precinct polling place skeleton crews of just one Election Clerk, in addition to one each Election and Alternate Judge, and only two voting booths likely will not keep pace with late day voting as people line up to vote after work, before polling places close at 7 P.M. This may spawn long lines waiting to vote when the polls close at 7 P.M., just when people are due to start arriving back at their respective polling places for the Democratic Precinct Caucus Conventions, scheduled to start at 7:15 P.M. Everyone in line to vote at 7 P.M. must be allowed to vote before the polling place is declared closed by the presiding judge.
ONE BIG PROBLEM HERE – The Democratic Precinct Caucus Conventions may NOT officially convene until the last person waiting in the voting line at 7 P.M. has finished voting, and the Election Judge has declared that the election-polling place is closed. (TX Elec. Code Sec. 174.022)
This means people may be voting for more than a hour after the polling place doors are locked at 7 P.M. to guard against late arriving voters jumping into the voting line AND caucus-goers will be impatient and confused because the news media are reporting flatly that the precinct caucus will begin at 7:15 P.M. No one seems to be telling the voters and prospective caucus-goers that they MUST WAIT for voting lines to clear before they can finally start dividing up the last third of the Texas Democratic Presidential Delegates.
It is going to be a long night folks!! Is that a light at the end of the tunnel or training coming???
