DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) – On the eve of Election Day, polling places are quiet.
Behind the scenes, though, there’s been a flurry of activity.
“Very busy day. Very busy day. It’s like the hours before the biggest wedding ever and we’re the wedding planners,” said Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins.
He predicts turnout in Dallas County could top one million, with as many as 200,000 votes cast on Election Day.
“We just don’t know. We’ve never seen turnout like this before,” he said.
Many voters will have more options on where to go.
While those in Denton County will be limited to voting at their assigned precincts on Election Day, voters in Dallas, Tarrant and Collin counties can visit any voting location in their county.
Dallas County will offer 463 voting locations, up from 61 during early voting.
Tarrant will have 332, up from 58.
Both counties will post wait times online to help voters find the shortest lines.
“We don’t see it being a day with any problems or congestion,” said Collin County Elections Administrator Bruce Sherbet.
Sherbet said he doesn’t expect any long lines to wait there. He doesn’t expect much of a wait for results either.
Moments after the polls close at 7:00 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 3, counties will post their tallies from early voting and most mail-in ballots, too.
“That first count is likely to be 80, 85% of the total votes in the election. So, you’ll have a very clear picture of the direction that things are going,” he said.
Election Day votes, Sherbet expects, will begin being added to the count around 8:30 p.m., followed by a surge of updates from precincts between 10 p.m. – 11 p.m.
By morning, he says, Texas should have a good idea of how it voted.
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