Metro via X
Metro unveiled its first all-electric bus routes on Monday, September 2, 2024.
Transportation to the polls just became a lot easier. During early voting and on election day Metro is offering free rides to and from polling locations.
Early voting started on Oct. 21 and will end on Friday, Nov. 1. Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 5.
In a press conference Tuesday, Chair of Metro, Elizabeth Brock encouraged voters to take friends with them to the polls and to take advantage of the free transportation.
“We want to give you a ride to go vote because elections matter, experience matters and who represents you matters,” said Brock.
Riders must show the driver their voter registration card. Houston Mayor John Whitmire says that there’s been significant voter turnout during Monday’s early voting.
“Look at the choices you have and go vote,” said Whitmire. “We’re encouraging everyone to vote, every community to be involved.”
According to the Harris County Clerk’s Office, more than 125,000 people cast their ballot on Monday.
“I encourage people with disabilities, people from vulnerable communities to please take advantage of this opportunity because your vote counts,” said Whitmire.
Early voting was off to a near-record turnout as of Monday, according to Harris County Clerk Teneshia Hudspeth.
“We have capacity at all of our 88 voting centers, and what it looks like is we’re getting close to the trend from 2020,” Hudspeth said.
Hudspeth says online misinformation that ballots with her initials on them are invalid is untrue.
“Voting for the November 5 Elections in Harris County is underway,” she said. “As Chief Election Official, I want to remind voters that they will see my initials on their ballots during the early voting period and the presiding judge’s signature on their ballots on Election Day.”
Now with all the activity in the vote centers, Hudspeth says, they are prepared for crowds.
“Every single vote center of this election has an overallocation of voting machines,” she said. “We have an overage of ballot paper and things like that. So, if we get record turnout and things get low, we are monitoring that throughout the day.”
Hudspeth says they’re not taking any chances when it comes to proper supplies of items like voting machines, ballot paper, voting center personnel, and tech teams who can respond to any voting center quickly to keep the balloting going as smoothly as possible. This all stems from the 2022 ballot paper shortage that was ultimately caused by an employee padding time sheets to appear to be working when he was off.
Worried about a long wait to cast your vote? The Clerk’s office has that covered, too.
“If voters go to harrisvotes.com, they can go look at a vote time center and see a wait time feature. Our election judges are pretty busy, so we’re asking them to update that wait time every 15 minutes,” Hudspeth said. “Green means go. Yellow means there might be a little traffic. Red means there might be a line.”
Hudspeth says busy is good, meaning voters are liking the chance to vote early and taking advantage of the opportunity: “Voting early ensures that you get it done and you get it out of the way.”