Voters in Williamson County will no longer be able to cast their ballot at any polling location on primary Election Day. Instead, they will only be able to vote at their assigned neighborhood polling place.
The county's Republican Party has decided it no longer wants to offer countywide polling locations on primary Election Day, and under current state law, the county's Democratic Party has no choice but follow Republicans' lead. Both parties must agree to using countywide polling locations for them to be offered.
"We decided, as a party ... to return to precinct based polling," said Michelle Evans, the chair of the Williamson County GOP. "It just means that you are voting in your community, as an overwhelming majority of voters do anyway."
Williamson County, she said, only began offering countywide polling places in 2013. Evans said for her and other Republicans, the shift back to precinct based polling places is about "being more confident in the outcomes of our elections."
"I could get into all of those details, but at the end of the day, it's because we can," she said. "It's legal. It's something we're entitled to do, and it's something that our party would like us to do."
Last year, Republican state lawmakers introduced two bills aimed at eliminating the use of countywide polling place, but the bills failed to gain enough support.
Early voting, however, will remain unchanged. Voters will still be able to cast their ballots at any available polling place in the county during the two week period.
Kim Gilby, the chair of the Williamson County Democratic Party, said she and other Democrats are "adamantly opposed" to the change, but intend to go along with it for the March 3 primary election.
"I don't want to jeopardize our candidates and our election. So we are doing precinct level [polling], not because we want to — because we're being forced into it," she said.
Gilby said she's worried about the change causing confusion for voters of both parties.
"Maybe you work in Taylor, but live in Cedar Park. You get stuck at work, and you're told, 'Oh, no, I'm sorry. You can't vote here ... you have to vote at the Cedar Park rec center or wherever,'" she said. "I just feel like we stand a higher chance of people being disenfranchised."
Having countywide polling places available makes voting more convenient for many people, Gilby said.
Joshua Blank, the research director at the Texas Politics Project, said "convenience" in this context matters, especially when considering voter turnout.
"For many people, voting can be thought of as a marginal decision," he said. "Therefore, any efforts to make voting easier or more accessible are likely to increase turnout, even if only marginally, and all else equal, while any actions that make voting more onerous or less convenient generally tend to decrease turnout."
To that argument, Evans replied, "I would encourage the Democrats and other critics to have far more confidence in their fellow man that they can figure out where a polling location is."
Early voting for the March primary election begins Feb. 17 and runs through Feb. 27. Election Day is March 3.
