ËÄ»¢Ó°Ôº

NPR for North Texas
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Early voting is done — but over one million Dallas County voters can still cast ballots Saturday

Louis Marrow and Lourbria Morrow test out voting machines as Esmeralda Garcia, voter outreach coordinator, guides them through the process Friday, April 18, 2025, in Dallas.
Yfat Yossifor
/
ËÄ»¢Ó°Ôº
Louis Marrow and Lourbria Morrow test out voting machines as Esmeralda Garcia, voter outreach coordinator, guides them through the process last month in Dallas.

Nearly 69,000 of all early voters in Dallas County mailed in ballots or cast them in person ahead of the general election.

That might seem like a lot, but it's less than 5% of all registered voters in Dallas County.

And more than a quarter of them waited until the last day of early voting to get to the .

Usually early voters range from 5 to 6% of all votes for local spring time elections, according to Lauren Trimble, Chief of Staff for County Judge Clay Lewis Jenkins.

Denton County has numbers.

"Local elections are very important," Jenkins said. "It's where the rubber meets the road. It's public safety. ...City council districts determine who the city manager is, what the priorities are for police.

"And of course, our school board races are very important," Jenkins said. "They determine the direction that our public schools will take, which is important not only for kids in the public school but for our workforce in the next few years when those kids become adults and are in the workforce."

All other 1.3 million Dallas County voters get another chance when polls reopen at 7 a.m. this Saturday, May 3.

Countywide voting allows voters to cast ballots at any polling location, which close at 7 p.m. Saturday.

School board and city council spots are up for grabs .

Got a tip? Email Marina Trahan Martinez at mmartinez@kera.org. You can follow Marina at .

ËÄ»¢Ó°Ôº is made possible through the generosity of our members. If you find this reporting valuable, consider . Thank you.

Marina Trahan Martinez is ËÄ»¢Ó°Ôº's Dallas County government accountability reporter. She's a veteran journalist who has worked in the Dallas area for many years. Prior to coming to ËÄ»¢Ó°Ôº, she was on The Dallas Morning News Watchdog investigative and accountability team with Dave Lieber. She has written for The New York Times since 2001, following the 9/11 attacks. Many of her stories for The Times focused on social justice and law enforcement, including Botham Jean's murder by a Dallas police officer and her subsequent trial, Atatiana Jefferson's shooting death by a Fort Worth police officer, and protests following George Floyd's murder. Marina was part of The News team that a Pulitzer finalist for coverage of the deadly ambush of Dallas police officers in 2016.