North Texas Daily

By Cydne Robinson & Sadia Saeed

It’s a cool and foggy morning, but the weather hasn’t stopped people from exercising their voting rights at poll locations like Denia Recreation Center in Denton.

The Center, which opened at 7 a.m., had a line extending almost outside the door with people waiting to vote. After 8 a.m., there were hardly any people and the line ceased to exist. Voters walked in and came right out the door. There was little traffic at the recreation center so everyone could get in, vote and leave in a timely manner.

There were, however, some issues soon after the polls opened. Some paper ballot scanners malfunctioned, election administrator Lannie Noble said. Noble said he got a call regarding the voting machines and discovered the problem. He said the voting machines were set up in “test mode” and not in “election mode.” The exact number of polling locations affected by these malfunctions is unknown, Noble said.

“Rest assured, the votes will be tabulated and accounted for,” Noble said.

On average, it took each voter about five minutes to cast their ballots.

“I just stepped right into [voting],” said Bill Miller, former president of the UNT student body. “There were a few other people in there that were voting but there was no wait.”

In Texas, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is ahead of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton by six percentage points. Trump is holding 49 percent of the vote while Clinton is right behind him at 43 percent.

Some voters revealed that they were ready for the election to come to and end. But Karina Antony, a 21-year-old UNT student, was disappointed that the election was over.

“Everyone says that they are ready for this election to be over, but I’m kind of not because I’ve been watching CNN for the past couple [of] weeks and now everything is going to be boring since they’re not fighting back and forth,” Antony said.

By some accounts, this has been one of the most negative and divisive campaigns in recent memory.

All kinds of people came out to cast their votes, ranging from 21 to 78 years old. Some voters wanted to wait until today because they felt like it held more meaning to vote on Election Day.

“It’s the last day to come [in] and vote. We don’t like voting early. We like to see all the people come out and vote, but sadly, there wasn’t a line,” Lloyd Sanboron, a 78-year-old retired resident, said. “I remember all the people that died for our right to vote and I feel like it’s disrespectful not to come out and vote.”

Some people had a few issues while voting. A couple of voters had issues with their ID’s and another voter had their machine break down so it took a few more minutes than average. Even one man, Andres Alonzo a 21-year old construction worker, didn’t get a chance to vote because he found out he had to register to vote a month in advance.

Overall, this morning was a smooth process for everyone and only a few people had issues voting.

Featured Image: Voting is underway at Carriage House Assisted Living on Election Day. Sara Carpenter