Early voting impressive

Questionable government actions may have prevented an even better turnout of Texans.

Texans should feel a surge of patriotic pride at the news that voter turnout for the 2018 elections has skyrocketed. The crowds, the energy and the political engagement are all healthy for our republic — but the long lines themselves snaking around early voting locations are no parade of civic virtue. Just the opposite: They’re a failure of government to accommodate voters.

Unnecessary waits can discourage people from voting. Whether at Schlitterbahn or the West Gray Multi-Service Center, nobody likes standing in line.

As Texas heads into its second and final week of early voting, we’re seeing questionable actions across the state that may depress what could be record turnout. Small changes in tight races can make the difference between who wins and loses.

At Prairie View A&M, five students filed a federal lawsuit Monday alleging Waller County officials violated their civil rights by failing to provide accessible earlyvoting locations to the predominantly black institution’s more than 8,250 students.

There were no on-campus voting sites the first week. One on-campus site was designated for the second week of early voting, as well as a second site about a mile off campus. Neither site was scheduled to be open over the weekend or during evening hours.

Closer to home, the University of Houston lacks an early voting site entirely. While students at the University of Texas and Texas A&M can vote without leaving campus, Cougars are denied that right.

That’s not the only problem in Houston. Harris County’s failure to extend voting hours has drawn concern. The 46 polling locations open at 8 a.m. and close at 4:30 p.m. for the first week of early voting. That’s the earliest closing time among the 15 Texas counties with the most registered voters.

Several other large Texas counties conducted early voting from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Harris County Clerk Stan Stanart, a Republican running for re-election, claimed he needed a waiver from the Texas secretary of state to extend hours, but a spokesman for the state agency didn’t believe that was true.

The list goes on for Harris County’s voting concerns.

Democrats and Republicans alike have reported that voting machines are selecting the wrong candidates when they use the straight-ticket voting option, specifically in the tight U.S. Senate race between Ted Cruz and Beto O’Rourke. The secretary of state has deemed the problem a user error that occurs when voters hit the eSlate buttons incorrectly. Voters are understandably frustrated that elected officials continue to blame them, rather than the clunky hardware that needs to be fixed.

Meanwhile, firefighters have come under inappropriate scrutiny for wearing their yellow union shirts and generic department shirts to the polls while Proposition B is on the ballot. Similarly, three organizations supporting progressive causes were told they could not wear clothing with the names, logos or emblems of their organizations while inside the polling places where they would vote.

The discriminatory directive by the Harris County Clerk’s Office was specifically aimed at members of the Texas Organizing Project, Workers Defense in Action PAC and Communications Workers of America and seemed to stretch the limits of the Texas Election Code, which prohibits anyone wearing material related to a candidate, measure or political party on the ballot from being within 100 feet of a polling place.

Challenges at the polls may get worse in 2020, when a legislative ban on straight-ticket voting threatens to slow the process even more. Getting rid of the one-click, grab-bag voting method, which groups good candidates with bad, is great for democracy. But more voters clicking through the whole ballot will only exacerbate delays if state and county leaders don’t prepare. Texas will need more voting locations, more voting booths and more poll workers.

We’re inspired to see everyday Texans doing their part this year to ensure a functioning republic. Now state and local leaders need to return the favor.