County launching eight 24-hour voting sites today

In Harris County this year, residents can vote where the Rockets or Texans play, from the comfort or their cars, or on Sundays. And on Thursday, they can vote at any time of day.

The county clerk on Thursday will leave eight early voting sites open for 24-hours, an effort to make voting easier for residents who may have nontraditional schedules or who may be eager to avoid lines.

“Whether you’re a first responder who clocks in and out at 5 a.m., a medical professional working to save lives around the clock, someone keeping shelves full at grocery stores, or a shift worker keeping our port running, we want to give you the opportunity to cast your vote at a time that is convenient for you and four family,” Harris County Clerk Christopher Hollins said in a statement.

The 24-hour option is one of several innovations in Hollins’ ambitious $27 million election plan for this year; others include nearly tripling the number of early voting sites, drive-thru voting, sending mail ballot applications to all registered seniors and hiring more than 11,000 poll workers.

The clerk’s office also kept the 112 early voting sites open until 10 p.m. on Tuesday and Wednesday. The 24-hour sites are:

• Kashmere Multiservice Center, 4802 Lockwood

• John P. McGovern Texas Medical Center Commons, 6550 Bertner

• NRG Arena, Hall D, 1 NRG Parkway

• Victory Houston, 809 West

• Tracy Gee Community Center, 3599 Westcenter

• East Harris County Activity Center, 7340 Spencer Highway

• Prairie View A&M University Northwest, 9449 Grant

• Juergen’s Hall Community Center, 26026 Hempstead

No research suggests that 24hour voting is a necessity, University of Houston political scientist Brandon Rottinghaus said. The gesture, however, symbolizes how Harris County significantly has changed how it runs elections, he said.

“Even if they net only a few voters, it speaks volumes about the clerk’s commitment to making voting easy to everyone,” Rottinghaus said.

With an extra week of early voting granted by Gov. Greg Abbott, Harris County has seen record turnout to date. Through Thursday, the county had recorded 1.21 million ballots cast. With the bonus polling hours and a traditional surge at the end of the early voting period, Harris County could exceed 2016’s record turnout of 1.34 million by Friday.

Harris is the only one of Texas’ 254 counties to include a 24-hour drive-thru voting option.