Harris County polls to remain open until 8 p.m. after delays

HARRIS COUNTY, Texas — All 782 Harris County polling locations will be open an extra hour on Election Day due to a court order that was filed over issues at the polls throughout the day.

All Harris County polling locations are to be open until 8 p.m. but voters who get in line after 7 p.m. will cast provisional ballots. Voters who cast provisional votes will place their ballot into a sealed envelope instead of inserting it into the scanning machine. All provisional ballots will be counted separately at the Central County station inside NRG.

On Tuesday afternoon, the Texas Civil Right Project filed an emergency court order against Harris County to secure the extra hour of voting. A judge later signed and approved the request.

Harris County Election Administrator Clifford Tatum said the extra hour was granted due to late starts and other issues at various voting locations. Tatum said his office is looking into what went wrong.

“The additional hour provides voters with the opportunity to cast their ballot if they were unable to do so as intended this morning. We are reviewing the circumstances surrounding these late starts,” Tatum said during a news conference just before 7 p.m.

Early voting results will start being released at 8 p.m. Tatum said final results will likely be delayed on election night.

After the judge signed the order, Tatum made a public statement and answered questions:

Several issues delayed voting across the county on Election Day.

A city worker was electrocuted causing a power outage at a park and forcing the Melrose Park voting location to close.

RELATED: Electrocution prompts closure of Melrose Park voting site, Harris County Elections says

Several people at different polling locations said voting machines were the reason for delays.

The election judge at BakerRipley on Navigation Boulevard said they were slow to open because they didn’t have the proper election supplies dropped off, including the key to open voting machines.

RELATED: Polling places plagued by issues across Harris County

Voters at the Tracy Gee Community Center reported being sent away to vote elsewhere because of machine problems.

Around 5:30 p.m. there was about a 45-minute wait at the West Grey multi-service polling location. The polling site had an issue Tuesday morning when 20 machines were down. It was resolved and no issues have been reported since.

Harris County elections officials said some locations were low on paper. Deliveries were made to those locations.

At NRG Arena, 21 of the 44 voting machines were down around 5:45 p.m. It was unclear how long the machines would be down.

If you have any issues at the polls, text KHOU at 713-526-1111.

KHOU 11 on social media: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube