North Texas Daily

Chelsea Watkins | @chelloo

Lisa Dreher | @lisa_dreher97

Voter turnout for in Denton County was higher Tuesday than the 2012 primary elections.

Denton County voters cast 129,238 ballots in the 2016 primaries Tuesday, with a 30.01 percent voter turnout. More than 41,000 ballots were cast in the 2012 primaries, with a 11.46 percent voter turnout.

Last election, 37,328 ballots of the 361,417 registered Denton County voters were cast for the Republican Party. The same election, 4,076 ballots for Democratic Party candidates were cast, according to a cumulative report by the official Denton County Texas Elections website.

College students are voting for the first time ever this year, such as North Central Texas College student Derek Pier, who stood in line at the Flower Mound Police and Court Building.

“I guess it’s a new responsibility to take on,” Pier said. “It’s our right.”

People going to the wrong locations has been a past problem. The Denton Civic Center is a voting site for only Democratic Party votes.

Denton resident Chelsea Poteet, said she made sure she was at the right location before arriving when a voting official announced that the location only took Democratic votes.

“Yeah, I looked that up before I came here,” Poteet said. “I didn’t realize that a lot of [locations] were split.”

Registering for the wrong county is also an issue, especially among college students who registered for their hometown and not college town.

Voters could choose which party they wish to vote for in the open primaries today. Polls were open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

“It’s our chance to identify who we want as our presidential candidate and it’s also an opportunity to vote for local officials,” Loriann Gilbert, fundraiser, said.

Poteet, 31, said she’s been voting since she gained the right after turning 18.

“I feel like if you don’t vote then you don’t have the right to b—ch when things go wrong,” Poteet said. “If you don’t get your voice out there than you don’t really have a voice at all.”