Travis County Primary Election: When to expect results, how counts are being done
During primary elections, the Republican and Democratic parties negotiate how the election will play out, and the Travis County Clerk carries that out. This year, the parties didn't reach an agreement until December.
AUSTIN (KXAN) — There are roughly 150 voting locations that will be open for Election Day in Travis County this primary election. Both political parties said they were hard at work Monday preparing for Election Day.
"We have been working really hard. We have our election judges who are out there and ready to go, we have so many volunteers, people who are working the polls," said Pooja Sethi, chair for the Travis County Democratic Party.
During primary elections, the Republican and Democratic parties negotiate how the election will play out, and the Travis County Clerk carries that out. This year, the parties didn't reach an agreement until December.
The Travis County Republican Party was unable to secure the resources required to hand count early voting ballots, KXAN previously reported. But it will be hand-counting mail-in ballots this year.
"That's a first one for us, hopefully not too long because we don't have a whole lot of mail-in ballots," said Andy Hogue, communications director for the Travis County Republican Party. "For now we're just going to count the mail-in ballots, see how that goes. Hopefully, it'll be a nice, easy process that will show that previous worries about it gumming up the process or taking too long are unfounded."
The Republican Party has until 7 p.m. on Wednesday to finish that count, according to the clerk.
If you're voting in the Democratic primary, that does not apply to you.
"It is business as usual," Sethi said.
The Travis County Clerk told us election results will roll out the same way they have in the past. Early voting and partial mail ballot results will come out around 7 p.m., when the polls close.
After everyone in line at 7 p.m. has had a chance to vote, election judges will head to a central counting station and they'll start tabulating those votes. They expect the first big chunk of results from that process to come out around 10:30 p.m.
All Election Day results are expected to be released early Wednesday.