Seven days, six records broken – by the time polls closed Sunday evening, almost one-third of 76,440 registered voters in Gregg County had cast early votes in the 2024 election.
Another 1,000 had weighed in by early afternoon Monday.
“That’s 33.7 percent,” says Gregg County Elections Administrator Jennifer Briggs. “That’s just early voting check-ins; we still have all the mail ballots that are going out.
“We are at a record-breaking level.”
Early Voting kicked off Oct. 21, with eight polling stations in Gregg County in addition to the Longview courthouse. Monday’s record turnout was the week’s highest at 5,058 in-person check-ins; only Sunday’s traffic of 1,054 countywide didn’t exceed the high-water mark set during the 2020 election.
Needless to say, it’s been busy for elections office staffers and poll volunteers.
“I’m living off of Red Bull, coffee, adrenaline,” Briggs quipped. “Four hours’ sleep a night – that is without an alarm. My brain is not shutting off.”
A presidential election year always brings out crowds, and the 2020 showdown hit new highs despite the COVID-19 pandemic.
“A lot of people still showed up to vote in the presidential election,” Briggs said. “We also went three weeks; we are on pace to possibly beat the entire three weeks of 2020 turnout in Early Voting this year.”
Like Upshur County and Smith, Gregg County offers countywide polling – voters can cast their ballot at any open polling location. Throughout this week, every location is welcoming Early Voters from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. (7 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the courthouse) through Friday, Nov. 1.
The closest Early Voting location to Gladewater is White Oak Community Center at 1103 S White Oak Rd. – staffers saw more than 3,000 voters check-in there last week.
NOTE: These are Election Day polling locations. In Gregg County, there are eight Early Voting polling locations (open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. through Nov. 1) in addition to the Longview courthouse.
After a weekend breather, come Tuesday, Election Day, “We will open up all of our 18 vote center locations,” Briggs said. “We are making sure to have them fully-staffed so that there’s plenty of workers at each.
On Nov. 5, Gladewater First Methodist Church (and other polls) welcomes Election Day voters from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. along with Hugh Camp Memorial Park at 5716 Old Highway 135 N.
Briggs is counting down and counting her blessings she’s in East Texas.
“I feel blessed to work in Gregg County,” she said. “Everyone gets along, everybody shows respect to each other; I don’t often hear that about other counties. Gregg County voters are wonderful.”
She’s as frustrated as anyone else to hear stories of poll workers being accosted – for example, a San Antonio man is facing a felony charge after assaulting a volunteer Oct. 24. The suspect allegedly lashed out at the elderly victim after being told multiple times he could not wear his ‘Make America Great Again’ hat in the polling location – such electioneering is against Texas law.
“That was terrible,” Briggs lamented. Her workers haven’t reported any such incidents. Sure, “There’s always a couple that don’t want to take off their political advertising for their candidate or party when they’re in line,” but they tend to respect the direction of the poll volunteers. “We haven’t had any altercations at this point.
“Quite the contrary: I was pleasantly surprised that I’ve received quite a few phone calls from people thanking us and being very nice, saying the workers are helping and being very nice. Usually, you only hear from the squeaky wheels.
Notably, Gregg County Courthouse is not open as a polling center on Election Day. It will, however, welcome officials from throughout the county that evening as they drop off ballots once polls close at 7 p.m. and once any lingering voters (who are already line when the polls shut down) are able to cast their ballots.
Strict ballot security measures are in place to ensure the proper chain of custody is respected between polling locations and the tabulation enter at the courthouse. With counting monitored via webcam and broadcast online, results will be simultaneously uploaded to the state and to the county’s website as soon as possible.
“It is an extremely busy and exciting election,” Briggs said. “The main thing I’m telling people when they call is just be patient. We actually have things going pretty smoothly in Gregg County.
There are no reports of long lines: “Twenty minutes, 30 minutes, tops, if we’re super busy. Most people are getting through the line 10 to 15 minutes. Everything’s going really smoothly. I’m very pleased, very thankful.”