North Texans head to the polls on final day of early voting

Friday is the final day of early voting in the 2024 general election and millions of Texans have made their voice heard at the ballot box.
More than 8 million Texans cast a vote early in the 2024 election.
Friday is the final day of early voting and officials believe we could pass the 8.7 million who voted early in 2020.
Many voters said getting out to cast their ballot early was a priority.
“Just to get it out of the way, I don’t want long lines,” said Davina Lastie.
The Fretz Park Library has been Dallas County’s busiest location, with more than 21,000 people voting by Friday morning.
The numbers in Dallas County will be lower than in 2020 when Texas had an extra week of early voting due to the pandemic.

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“It’s comparable to 2020, even though we had one more week of early voting then,” said Heider Garcia, Dallas County Elections Administrator.
Garcia wants Texas voters to trust the election process.
“Every polling place you have Republicans and Democrats from those communities running the polling place, doing the paperwork and checking everything,” he said.
The Texas: The Issue Is 2024 Election Special breaks down the key issues and races across Texas. Senator Ted Cruz and his challenger, Congressman Colin Allred, sit down to talk about their race. Plus, a look at the presidential election between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris and the issues that could drive Texas voters to the polls.
Turnout has been strong in neighboring Tarrant County.
As of 2 p.m. Friday, more than 603,000 people voted early. That’s 45 percent of registered voters.
Part of the reason is because more Republicans are voting early this year compared to four years ago.
In Denton and Collin counties, more than 50 percent of registered voters have already cast their ballot.
“It doesn’t surprise me, it’s a major election,” said Lastie.
Polls close in Tarrant, Denton and Collin counties at 7 p.m.
They will remain open until 9 p.m. in Dallas.
Information in this article comes from Dallas County Elections Administrator Heider Garcia and information from the Texas Secretary of State Office.