Tarrant County launched a new website, allowing voters to check wait times at county polling locations.
Tarrant County voters can cast their ballot at any polling location for the 2020 election. The new website is color-coded based on wait times.
At one point Tuesday morning, the website showed over an hour-long wait for the Villages of Woodland Springs polling location. That’s one of three early voting locations that was affected after a poll worker tested positive for COVID-19.
The Tarrant County Elections Office said in a statement that they found out about the poll worker’s positive test last night. That worker was trained on Oct. 8.
“Out of an abundance of caution, all workers that were in the same training class were asked to stay home and not show up for work today. This affected three early voting locations: Keller Town Hall, Villages of Woodland Springs and Euless Family Life Senior Center,” said Tarrant County Elections Administrator Heider Garcia.
The Euless Family Life Senior Center is the only location that remained closed Tuesday morning, Garcia said. Officials are working to find a replacement crew and said they will open it as soon as possible.
Some voters that showed up to Keller Town Hall Tuesday waited hours to cast their vote.
“(The wait) is absolutely worth it,” voter Tricia Priest said. “I’m excited to cast my vote, which I wasn’t four years ago. Regardless of what happens, I need to know that I did everything that I could to make the difference. And I think clearly, a lot of other people feel the same way given the turnout, which is really exciting.”
Over 12,000 Tarrant County voters cast their ballots in the first three hours of early voting Tuesday. Click here to follow the count live.