East Texas voters head to the polls on Super Tuesday

TYLER, Texas (KLTV) - Polls were open until 7 p.m. Tuesday. Soon after voting ended, results of early voting started rolling in.

The primary election will set the tone for November’s general. East Texans are picking their choices for who is going head-to-head in eight months.

“I always vote and it’s just out of respect of my ancestors. I think it would be pretty selfish of me not to vote considering they had to fight so hard to vote,” said Felonda Prince, a Smith County voter.

By 2:30 p.m., over 9,000 Smith County residents had voted.

Another Smith County voter, Genesis Ambriz said, “It’s very important to put your opinions out there, get your voice out. Especially for those of us who are of the minorities which our voice really doesn’t get shown very often.”

That same hour in Gregg County, about 3,300 had checked in and cast ballots.

“I vote, it’s a privilege and I just feel like we all should do this. It’s important. Vote local and go on up the ladder,” said Gregg County voter, Carol Odum.

When comparing these numbers to past primary elections in Gregg County, elections administrator Jennifer Briggs said:

“In 2022, we had 6,000. In 2020, we had 9,000. So we shall see the rest of today if we’re going to be able to catch up to those numbers.”

In Lufkin, Our Father’s House of Faith Church is encouraging citizens to vote by giving out free food and free rides to the polls.

“We want people to understand and realize how important today is, this is Super Tuesday. And so we’re making a decision today that could impact our lives for a lifetime,” said Pastor, Andro Branch.

According to the Secretary of State early voting data, over 596,000 votes were cast for the democratic primary, with a 3.3 percent statewide turnout.

For the Republican primary, over 1.2 million votes were cast and a statewide turnout of 6.8 percent. That gives the republicans a 625,000-vote advantage over the democrats.

The average age of a democratic primary voter was 61 and on the republican side, 62. Only about 75,000 people under the age of 30 voted early.

49 was the average age of a voter when compared to the 2020 November general election.

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