Gregg County election official says voter turnout is higher than with previous primaries

LONGVIEW, Texas (KLTV) - Many voters in Gregg County waited until Election Day to cast their ballots.

East Texas News’ Jamey Boyum is following the action at the Gregg County Courthouse, and he said that voting has been pretty steady today. Election officials told him that the turnout is a bit higher than some of the previous primaries

“People are getting out there and voting,” Boyum said. “As you can see at the polls, there were a lot of cars in the lots. There were a lot of people coming in to vote.”

Jennifer Briggs, Gregg County’s elections administrator, said her staff members have received numerous calls and questions.

“People are wondering where they can go vote,” Briggs said. “And we are vote centers here in Gregg County, so if you’re registered to vote, you can go to any vote center that we have open on Election Day. So those are easy questions. So, everything’s been going pretty good today.”

In the past, there have been some arrests in connection with mail-in ballot-related issues in Gregg County.

Briggs said the questionable mail-in ballots are application issues before they even come to the elections administration office when asked about that.

“So, we’ve actually seen a lot less of those issues showing up before they come to us,” Briggs said. “Once those applications get here, we’re processing them. The new laws make it a little bit tricky for our voters. They’re used to doing it a certain way. But we’ve been able to clear quite a few of those.”

Briggs said she and her staff are doing everything they can to help Gregg County voters. She added that if voters have questions, they can always give her office a call. The main number for the Gregg County Elections Administration Office is (903) 234-3126.

There are 18 polling places open in Gregg County. Residents there have until 7 p.m. to vote and there is no voting taking place at the courthouse.

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