Early Voting Reaches New Records, Concerns Over Voting Irregularities Spread

This week in Texas politics with the Texas Tribune.

By Rhonda FanningNovember 1, 2016 7:52 pm,

It’s time to talk about the week that was in Texas politics. Emily Ramshaw, editor-in-chief of the Texas Tribune, stopped by the Standard today to talk about what’s been going on across the state.

In parts of North Texas, there’s been chatter regarding vote flipping – switching votes from Republican to Democrat. A viral post on Facebook convinced some that their votes may not have been accurately counted.

“It’s been largely debunked, but the sort of word on the street – and across the state, not just in Dallas – was that vote machines, people were saying, ‘Well I voted for Hillary and it changed my vote to Donald Trump, or, I voted for Donald Trump and suddenly it said I voted for Hillary,’ Ramshaw says. “There may have been some user error at play here or a little bit of confusion, but there [is] certainly no evidence at all that actual vote flipping is happening at the fault of these machines.”

Donald Trump has specifically pointed to the Lone Star State and said that he’s worried about possible election rigging or fraud here. And Ramshaw says that’s inspired Republicans across the state to share his concerns.

“The Texas Tribune had a poll out this week, the latest results today show 89 percent of Republicans are incredibly worried about this type of voter fraud or people voting the way they shouldn’t be,” she says.

What you’ll hear in this segment:

-Why there’s record voter turnout during early voting in Texas

-What’s driving long lines at early voting locations