Howdy, y’all.

I spent Election Day driving between polling locations, talking to clerks and voters, and bringing readers along for the ride. My editors and I stayed up past midnight to watch your ballots get counted. We do it for the love of the game but we can’t keep it up without your support. Chip in to help Votebeat raise $8,000 by Dec. 31. Donate any amount to become a member for the entire year, and get access to exclusive members-only events.

Now, on to the newsletter.

What a time to be alive in Texas! 

Election officials have told me that in each election, they wish for “high turnout and wide margins.” That hasn’t happened in Texas since I started covering election administration and voting in 2022. But this election was different. 

People in Texas turned out to vote in droves during early voting and on Election Day. Some problems were reported, such as the closure of polling sites due to power outages and in one county, equipment malfunction delayed election results. But the problems were manageable, not unusual, and easily? Handily? resolved. Voters cast their ballots, and by the time unofficial results started to trickle in, margins were wide. 

So I want to take a minute to praise the work of election administrators and poll workers across the state. Running an election is no easy task (if you’ve ever planned a wedding, imagine that but year-round) and election officials do it while juggling ongoing state law changes and unexpected administrative problems that come up from time to time. 

This year was especially difficult for some of them. During the primary election in Eastland County, Republicans chose to hand count ballots instead of tabulating them electronically; the county’s two election officials went without sleep for over 24 hours and had to talk down poll workers who wanted to give up and go home, but ultimately they got it done. 

Elsewhere during the primary, some election officials and their staffers received death threats. The elections administrator in Williamson County had to stay in an undisclosed location and keep security with her because the threats against her had gone too far. She still did her job, and the public didn’t hear about what she faced until after the election was over. 

Then months later, just as they were preparing for the midterm elections, election officials were hit with a backlog of tens of thousands of voter registration records that the state failed to send them. They had to scramble to get them processed only weeks before the start of early voting. It was a huge undertaking but election officials worked overnight and weekends with all hands on deck to clear the backlog. The hurdles didn’t stop there, though. Just days before early voting was set to start, officials learned of another backlog of thousands of voter registration records to process. 

Every time I asked them if they’d get through the hurdles in time, they always said yes. There’s no other option. After covering this beat for nearly five years, I can attest to the fact that election administrators in this state will always make sure there’s an election. Voters who are eligible will cast their ballots. And that’s what happened this week. 

Their job isn’t done yet. Voters have unofficial results now, but election officials are still working to reconcile records and canvass the results. Some are already preparing for runoff elections. 

I’ll report on whatever comes next. As our state prepares to change leadership, I'll continue to hold election officials accountable, and I’ll keep asking the hard questions.

Send me your thoughts. I want to hear about your experience at the polls this week. You can email me at [email protected] 

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