Local election results roll in

Area voters make voices heard on Election Day

By Abigail Allen

Managing Editor

Voters turned out to the polls on Election Day, casting their ballots for the 2020 general election.

Their votes joined the 353,135 cast in Denton County during early voting this year.

“It’s fantastic,” said Jessica How, who lives just outside of the Pilot Point city limits, on Election Day. “You get to walk in, they’re super friendly, they give you your ballot, show you where to scan it. Everything is nice and spaced out. It’s always a wonderful experience to vote here in Pilot Point. They make it really easy for you, and I love that it’s a small community, so it’s not very crowded.”

A steady stream of voters filtered through the Pilot Point Senior Center Tuesday morning, manned by Election Judge John Haughton, Clerk Todd Witte and others. They observed that it seemed like a lot of voters came out during early voting.

“I wouldn’t say [it’s] slower than a typical election day, because typically no one cares,” Haughton said. “But, the last midterm election day was a lot busier than this. We were steady all day long. This time has been a little slower.”

Haughton has worked at the polls for multiple elections, but this was a first for Witte.

“I love it,” he said. “It’s great to be part of the whole civic [process].”

By the end of early voting, a higher percentage of registered voters had turned out to cast their ballots than in the 2016 election—67.36% versus 64.69% in 2016.

It took the voters going through the Precinct 1003 polling location roughly five to seven minutes to complete the voting process on average.

“It was easy, but I think they should [offer] something better than trying to fill in the little box, because it takes a long time, and if there was a big line in back of you, you’d start to feel—you know,” Cindy Smith said.

She and her husband Terry Smith came together.

“I was teasing the guy inside,” he said. “I said, ‘I brought an ice chest for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I expected the line to be down to the square.’ … I guess a lot of people early voted. We’ve been out of town for a month, and we just got back yesterday. Usually we early vote, but we didn’t get to this year.”

Witte said the only negative comment the poll workers heard matched Cindy’s assessment of having to bubble in the boxes on the ballot.

Jody Rushing walked by the polling location and stopped to chat briefly with Witte.

He voted early, he said, because he wanted to make sure he got his vote in in plenty of time.

“This year it means more than ever,” he said. “I’m 70, and I’ve seen a lot of crazy stuff in just one year. People need to really get out and vote to make a difference. Their voice will be heard.”