Harris County election officials are reporting only minor hiccups amid record turnout during early voting.
There's still some confusion over straight ticket ballots, but nothing poll workers can't handle. Others claim they were mistakenly told they requested an absentee ballot. Clerk Stan Stanart says it happens every election.
“Most of the people when we research them they actually did, but they did it probably in January or February this year before the primary, and it's been so long they forget that they applied,” he says.
Stanart says they can still cast a ballot without messing up the count.
“The system is set up to where we don't let them vote at the poll until we've actually canceled it in our system downtown,” he says. “If it's already gone to the ballot board, we can't cancel it up to that point in time.”
“At that point, the only thing they could at the polls is vote a provisional ballot, and the provisional would only be counted if their ballot by mail is not counted.”
As of Sunday night, Harris County reported 429,000 in-person early voters, and another 77,300 by mail. Early voting runs through Friday.