Printer outages affected about 10 early-voting locations in Collin County, Texas, on Monday, 19 October, before election officials restored service within roughly 90 minutes.
The disruption came as voters turned out in large numbers for the first day of early voting, with some polling stations reporting longer queues than usual. Collin County uses paper ballots, making the printers an essential part of the voting process.
Election Administrator Kaleb Breaux said the problems were confined to individual sites and did not amount to a county-wide failure.
“We had about 10 locations that were experiencing some printer outages,” Mr Breaux said. “But everything’s up and running and operational within an hour and a half. We had everything back up.”
Collin County early voting sees strong turnout
Officials recorded 34,522 voters on the opening day. That was substantially higher than the 19,000 recorded on the first day of early voting in 2022, although below the 43,000 reported on the equivalent day in 2024.
More than 16,000 people had cast ballots by 1pm, according to Mr Breaux, who described turnout as stronger than normal for the start of the voting period.
He said the technical problems had caused an unsettled start at some locations but had not significantly interrupted voting across the county.
Collin County’s elections department says registered voters may use any designated vote centre during early voting, rather than being restricted to a single location.
Mr Breaux urged voters not to leave casting their ballot until the final day, warning that queues could become longer as the election approaches.
“Do not wait until the last day. Do not wait until Election Day,” he said. “If you can, make a plan and vote early if at all possible.”
The county has nearly 100,000 more registered voters than it did in 2022. Turnout that year was 53%, while officials have said participation in the current election could rise to between 60% and 70%.
