Long lines reported at poll locations in Texas, California

AUSTIN – Voters in parts of California and Texas, the two most populous states voting in the Democratic primary on Super Tuesday, complained of long lines and extensive waits to cast their ballots.

Experts said crowded polling places and delays caused by electronics used to check voter registration led to lengthy wait times in counties across California and Texas. And officials in some polling stations said election workers did not show up because of concerns about the coronavirus outbreak. 

Jesse Salinas, the chief elections official in Yolo County, just west of Sacramento, said about 10% of poll workers backed out at the last minute, and he pointed to concerns about getting the virus. He said that’s about double what is normal for an election, and sent his team scrambling for replacements.

“We are hoping people remain calm and still participate in the election process,” Salinas said.

More:A state-by-state look at Super Tuesday, where 15 contests are up for grabs

Fears of catching the coronavirus disrupted staffing at some voting locations in Travis County, Texas at the beginning of the day, Travis County Clerk Dana DeBeauvoir said.

Eleven people, including judges who were responsible for opening some of the 175 polling locations across the county Tuesday, did not show up for work, she said.

“The election judges said the news was scaring them,” DeBeauvoir said. “The media is hyping this corona thing.”

Other workers also abandoned their posts Tuesday morning after realizing there was not enough staff to open for voting, she said.

As of 9 a.m. Tuesday, she said, Travis County had 164 vacancies after using up all of its emergency backup workers.

DeBeauvoir said this was on top of the 31 judges who had said last week they would not come to operate the polls out of fear of catching the virus or another sickness.

All of the polling locations were back open and running later in the morning, the county clerk said.

Erica Bernal-Martinez, chief operational officer of NALEO Educational Fund, attributed the extraordinarily long wait times to the large turnout without enough voting machines at polling places.’

“In Los Angeles County in particular, at two locations there have been reports of wait lines as high as 3 hours, primarily because of the small number of machines and the small locations,” Bernal-Martinez said.

Kathay Feng, executive director of Common Cause of California, said election officials were using a new system for electronically checking voter registration and for marking ballots, which created voting delays.

“At the same time that there is extremely high voter turnout, people are able to ask for same-day registration, people are able to request party registration change and to indicate that they want crossover voting,” Feng said. Those requests are “causing extreme delays,” she said, reported at 45 to 90 minutes.

Kristen Clarke, president of Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, said there were poll closures and delayed openings in Texas counties including Dallas, Travis and Tarrant.

“These closures and delays led to extended wait times for voters,” she said. “In addition, the secretary of state’s website, which is used for checking voter registration was down for a large period of the day.”

Contributing: Austin American Statesman; The Associated Press 

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