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No major issues reported on Election Day in Central Texas

Posted at 8:41 PM, Nov 08, 2016
and last updated 2018-07-24 21:30:32-04

Voters in Central Texas reported voting on Election Day going smoothly for the most part on Tuesday.

Some voters at polling locations in McLennan and Bell counties told News Channel 25 wait times and lines were short.

Two McLennan County residents who voted at University High School said the polls were not as busy as they expected.

"It's actually shocking because I thought there was going to be a lot of people voting but honestly, there was no one in here voting," Gary Stout said.

Diana Hernandez also described the voting process as simple.

"It took less than five minutes. It was easy since I walked in," Hernandez said.

The First Assembly of God Church in Waco vote center, which historically has been the busiest polling location in the county, had a 15 minute wait at 10 a.m.

Other voters, such as Marne Osborn, had concerns about the voting process when she went into the voting booth.

Osborn who voted at Temple City Hall on Tuesday morning said when she was marking her paper ballot, she noticed local candidates running unopposed had already been selected.

"If it was marked or tampered, I wasn't going to use that ballot," Osborn said.

Osborn acknowledges those Republican candidates running without an opponent will win their seat with only vote but she didn't want her vote to go to them.

Osborn said she alerted an election clerk about the marked ballot and requested a new one.

"The woman said I'm sorry, a man had a ballot earlier and gave it back and may have gotten back in there," Osborn said.

The voter supporting claims she waited until the clerk marked that ballot void before casting her own.

Do I feel it was an accident? I don't know. Do I feel it was intentional? I really don't know," Osborn said.

News Channel 25 reached out to the Bell County Elections Office via phone and email. As of 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday, News Channel 25 was still waiting to hear back from election officials.

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