Galveston County voters can cast ballot at any polling place

GALVESTON — Galveston County is one of the few Texas counties where voters don't have to worry about going to the wrong polling place on Election Day.

Voters in Galveston and 10 other counties may cast their ballots at any polling place within the county. County Clerk Dwight Sullivan said this convenience is hugely popular with voters who no longer need to puzzle over the correct polling place.

"Most people don't know what district they are in," Sullivan said. "Even I as a county clerk have to look at my registration card."

Voters can go to any of 45 polling places known as countywide vote centers, an innovation the Texas Secretary of State's Office began experimenting with in 2006.

Galveston County passed up its first opportunity to participate in the experiment in 2008 because it was still dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Ike.

The experiment went poorly after Galveston County was chosen as one of five counties to participate in 2009. The vote centers require Internet access, but only eight of the 40 vote centers were able to get online when they opened at 7 a.m. on election day, according to the county report to the Secretary of State. All but one of the vote centers were online by 11:30 a.m.

The county decided that it lacked the technological infrastructure to use vote centers in 2010.

Better equipment allowed the county to try again in 2011. Voting went so smoothly that the county lobbied the Legislature to allow counties with successful vote-center trials to continue using them, said Bill Sargent, Galveston County chief deputy clerk for elections.

The vote centers received the enthusiastic endorsement of the Democratic and Republican parties at hearings before county commissioners earlier this year and the system was made permanent.

Lubbock was the first county to adopt vote centers in 2006 and is still using them. This year Collin, Erath, Floyd, Gaines, Lampasas, Midland, Swisher and Travis counties are also using vote centers.

harvey.rice@chron.com