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HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — Hundreds of voters waited in line to cast their vote at Texas Southern University, with the last person in line voting at 1:30 a.m. Wednesday.
That last voter, Hervis Rogers, wasn’t angry or frustrated though.
He was still smiling by the end with no complaints, telling ABC13 he used the time to watch results on his phone after making some last-minute decisions on who would get his vote.
“I wanted to get my vote in, voice my opinion. I wasn’t going to let anything stop me, so I waited it out,” Rogers said.
Courtney Fischer✔@CourtneyABC13
The last voter in line voted at 1:30am! He waited six hours. SIX HOURS. Smiling by the end. Not complaining. This is democracy! PS – you’ll hear from him on #ABC13 4:30-7 this morn. #vote #SuperTuesdayResults https://twitter.com/abc13houston/status/1235013170881867776 …
ABC13 Houston✔@abc13houston
STAY PATIENT, VOTERS! A long queue remains outside the @TexasSouthern library and other polling places in Harris County. https://abc13.com/5983078/?ex_cid=SND_KTRK_TW&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=snd …
Volunteers handed out pizza to voters, who were in good spirits at TSU.
Harris County Clerk Diane Trautman sent more voting machines to the poll in the evening to accommodate all the voters.
“It’s taking a long time on the Democratic side and the Republican side has a bunch of empty machines that no one is using,” said voter Britany Turner earlier in the night.
Trautman said they saw an extremely high turnout and that Democrats out-voted Republicans 3-1 in some locations.
She also explained that the machines come pre-programmed with each party’s ballot, so voters could not just go to any machine or use the other party’s machine.
It is unclear the specific locations, but about 40 to 50 machines were deployed to about four to five polling locations.
ABC13 talked to some of the voters in the polling lines and many of them said they were excited to have their voices heard.
“It’s great that I came. I did my job, and I’m glad to see people here doing their part,” said voter Abraham Madrigal.
“I waited about an hour. Everything worked. Everyone should vote,” said voter Abby Yates.
The Harris County Clerk’s Office announced there were no major issues.
Another school also had a massive turn out. An hour after polls closed, there was still a line outside Waltrip High School.
Watch Harris County Clerk Diane Trautman speak on the issue.
