Candidate signs outside of the HUB polling location in downtown Tyler. 

A couple of hours before voting ended Tuesday, Smith and Gregg counties had logged fewer voters at the polls than in the 2018 midterms, which included the governor’s race.

Jennifer Briggs, who works as the Gregg County Elections Administrator, said she believes the contested governor’s race should have attracted more voters to the polls but wondered if the fact that there weren’t many contested county races affected turnout.

In Smith County, balloting was tracking below the 2018 governor’s race as well.

Early voting this year saw 49,011 people cast ballots in person, said Smith County Elections Administrator Michelle Allcon, while Election Day drew 19,500 voters, or about 50.4% of Smith County’s registered voters. In comparison, the 2018 election saw 50,539 early voters and 20,979 Election Day voters, for a total turnout of 46.2%

In comparison, Gregg County’s early voting had a 29.6% turnout with 21,890 people voting, Briggs said. As of 5 p.m. Tuesday, turnout had reached 7,596 on Election Day, which puts total turnout at 29,486 — about 39% of registered voters.

The 2018 election saw a 33.9% early voting turnout with 23,534 voters. Then, Election Day turnout hit 13.7% of registered voters with 9,465 people casting ballots. Total turnout was 32,999, or 47.6% of registered voters.

Gregg County balloting on Election Day went smoothly with the exception of a brief power outage at the polling location at the Judson Community Center that didn’t affect voting, Briggs said.

“The good thing is all our machines have battery backup,” she said, and the building has windows so voters were able to see.

The elections office contacted Pct. 1 Commissioner Ronnie McKinney, who dispatched a generator, Briggs said, but the power came back on before it could arrive. 

The Tyler Morning Telegraph will update this article with information about the status of how balloting went in Smith County when it is made available.