Long lines combined with a lack of voting machines turned into frustration for voters at several election sites in Harris County on Super Tuesday.

Margaret Hollie arrived at the Multi Service Center on Griggs Road at 11 a.m. She finished just after 2:45 p.m.

“It was horrible,” she said. “The worst since I’ve been voting. And I’ve been voting for 60 years.”

She decided to stick around and vote at the location in the city's South Union area. Others did not, opting to find polling sites that were less busy. Under recent changes implemented by county leaders, voters can now cast their ballot at any precinct.

In Kashmere Gardens, at another Multi Service Center, the line of voters stretched from the entrance of the voting room to the exit of the facility.

Bettie Adami was one of about 100 people in the line about 4 p.m. Healthcare, higher paying jobs and raising the minimum wage top the list of her concerns this election season.

She isn’t letting the line prevent her from voting. “I'll stand as long as I have to to cast my vote," she said.

Edwin Handy, who waited for 45 minutes, gave up in disgust about 4:45 p.m.

“The line's too long,” the 77-year-old said. “The last time it was like this was when we were trying to put Obama in office during his first term.”

As of about 2 p.m, 120,000 people have voted today in the primary election, the Harris County Clerk's office said in a tweet. Voting continues to be robust in the afternoon, with long waits reported at several election sites.

Voting continues until 7 p.m. and as long as voters are in line, they can cast a ballot.

One of the busier sites during the late morning and early afternoon was at Fiesta Mart on Kirby and Old Spanish Trial. There, 592 people had voted as of 11:30 a.m., according to signs posted at the market. Of those, 34 were Republicans.

Shirley Bradford said she’s feeling more confident after the last few days. She’s voting for former Vice President Joe Biden, who she says has the necessary experience.

“People gotta stop sitting at home complaining,” she said.

One voter assistant said voting has been consistent all day and officials expect 1,200 ballots to be cast by day's end. One complaint is that there aren’t enough machines for Democratic voters, who have vastly outnumbered Republicans at this location.

Other sites are busy as well. The clerks' office has posted an interactive map with information about wait lines.

Earlier Tuesday, the long line formed early at the Metropolitan Multi-Service Center , where voters wrapped around the facility on West Gray well before polls opened at 7 a.m.

“If you’re going to be here at 1 or 2 p.m., it’s going to be insane,” said Montrose resident Heather Vaughn. “That’s why we came as early as we did.”

The Democrat said she spent the night and morning texting her friends to make sure they get out to vote and helped one new Texas resident register.

“I have a lot of friends in the service industry and a lot of them don’t think their vote counts,” she said. “Well, the last election affected everybody.”

Aside from the presidential Democratic primary, Vaughn said she was also drawn to vote in the state Supreme Court judge positions.

Voter Jeanne Higgs said when she came to the multipurpose center to early vote on Feb. 28, the wait was over an hour. The extra days afforded Higgs an opportunity to further research the races, she said.

Mid-morning at Poe Elementary in Boulevard Oaks, a long line of voters poured out of the elementary school doors, wrapping down the sidewalk. The wait was between an hour and an hour-and-a-half, according to poll workers.

Virtually all of them appeared to be Democratic voters – over a 30-minute period, as the line moved forward, just a handful of voters peeled off toward the Republican side.

Signs of anxiety about coronavirus were evident: poll workers walked up and down the line, dispersing squirts of hand sanitizer, and at least one person work a face mask.

Outside, several candidates mingled and chatted with voters, including Ben Rose (running for county attorney), Lesley Briones (an incumbent civil judge running for re-election), and Lanny Bose, a Democratic state representative candidate.

In the Tanglewood community, Democrats who lined up to vote early at precinct 435 were confused when they were turned away by poll workers.

The precinct judge who was tasked with setting up the voting booths for the Democrat primaries was late, the Harris County Clerk’s Office confirmed. Because the judge was not there, Democrats could not cast their ballots at that location for around 45 minutes.

“Everyone was outraged,” said Mary Lehr, a voter who said she was at the location around 7 a.m. “Some people had waited in line for 30 minutes before the polls opened.”

Joseph Martinez, the precinct judge, confirmed he was 30 minutes late, but did not provide a reason for the delay.

Lehr said she and other voters were told by poll workers to look for the Democratic booths in another area of the building, which she said caused confusion and frustration.

Poll workers who were there when the precinct opened declined to provide their names or comment on why Democratic voters were directed to look in other areas for voting booths.

Lehr eventually left and voted at another precinct. She said she was late to work because of the hassle.

Laurie Workin said she was told twice to come back to vote. The precinct judge still was not there when she returned for the second time at 7:45 a.m., Workin said.

“On our part, everything was set up and ready to go,” said Rosio Torres, a spokesperson for the clerk’s office.

Torres said the office got a few calls complaining about the delay, adding she is unaware at this time why the precinct judge was late.

All voting booths are up and running now, she added.

In the Third Ward, some voters noted that their usual polling precincts, at St. James Episcopal Church on Southmore Boulevard and St. Mary’s Catholic Church on Rosedale Street, were not open for primary voting.

The county’s political parties are in charge of deciding which polling places will be open for primary elections, said Torres.

DJ Ybarra, Executive Director of the Harris County Democratic Party , said the decision was made to not include some polling locations in negotiations with Republicans to keep countywide voting in the primary. The parties agreed on the final map of polling locations in January, said Ybarra.

“In that negotiation, we had to come up with what locations we wanted,” said Ybarra. “We wish we could have had more locations, but we had to negotiate and we had to keep countywide voting.

“In the future, we’re going to try our best to get all our polling locations we want earlier in the process, so we’re not put in a position where we don't have all the locations we want,” Ybarra said.

A total of 244,442 ballots were cast during early voting in Harris County, according to the county clerk’s office.

Harris County’s 401 polling locations will be open until 7 p.m. County residents are able to vote at any precinct.

Metro is providing free round-trip service to polls on all local buses, light-rail and MetroLift paratransit service.

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