Technical issues causes frustration among voters at Donna polling site
Voters said they chose to leave one of the Election Day polling locations in Donna Tuesday morning due to a limited amount of voting machines there.
Residents coming out of the Amigos Del Valle Inc. Nutrition Center said Tuesday morning that only one voting machine at that location was working.
“That's what I was told in there, that the computers are not working in there,” Donna resident Mariza Ozuna said. “They only have one person assisting in the front and that's it.”
Channel 5 News was told only five people at a time were being let into the facility, creating a long line inside and outside the facility.
Several potential voters were seen leaving without voting.
Other people in line told Channel 5 News that the polling site opened at 8:30 a.m. instead of 7 a.m.
The onsite election judge claimed the polling location opened at 7 a.m. adding that the long line at the location was caused by election working using only one laptop to check people in. An IT team had been called to resolve the computer issues.
When reached for comment, Hidalgo County Interim Elections Administrator Hilda Salinas said no issues had been reported at the Amigos Del Valle polling location. She added IT was called to the site as part of a standard practice to check in due to the long line there.
The county elections department lists two other Election Day polling locations for the city of Donna:
• Donna Recreation Center located at 370 Miller Avenue
• W.A. Todd Middle School located at 400 North Salinas Avenue
All polling locations close at 7 p.m. Tuesday. Election officials say if voters are in line by 7 p.m., they’ll still be allowed to vote.