North Texas counties prepare for Texas primary voters

Early voting for Texas primary begins Feb. 18

You may see something different when early voting begins for the Texas primary election next week.

McKINNEY, Texas - Some voters will see new voting equipment when they head to the polls for the March primary election in Texas.

Early voting begins next Tuesday and ends on Feb. 28. March 3 is Super Tuesday. Texas voters will get the chance to vote for their party’s presidential candidate.

Many North Texas counties have already started mailing out early voting ballots. Some are using new machines that have already been battle-tested.

The electronic ballot boxes in Collin County are the same ones 109,000 voters used back in November for the constitutional amendment election.

Elections Supervisor Bruce Sherbet talked about the second layer of accuracy the touch screen machines provide.

"Voters vote on a touch screen just for the marking of their ballot. After they have finished voting, it produces a marked ballot for their review prior to their ballot being put through a ballot counter. If there's a recount, the paper ballot actually is actually what is used in a recount. The official ballot of record is now on paper versus electronic voting machines,” he said.

North Texas counties prepare for Texas Primary voters

Early voting for the March primaries in Texas starts in one week. Many people will see new voting machines or systems. Collin County Elections Administrator Bruce Sherbet talked to Good Day about training poll workers, working out the kinks and preparing for voters.

Sherbet said the benefit of the machines is that they allow for a vote center system. Voters can go to any polling location on election day.

Collin County has had a voter center system in place since 2009.

The county is expecting about 200,000 voters or a 30-35% turnout for the March primary.