County debuts new voting system

Travis County Clerk Dana DeBeauvoir gave students and staff at East Austin’s Overton Elementary a chance to put the county’s brand-new touch-screen voting system through its paces. In a press release, DeBeauvoir said, “It’s the first time voters have seen a voting system with a paper trail. Voters seem very happy, the ones we’ve talked to at the polls. They love the paper trail. They’re very happy with it, so we’re delighted that it seems to be so well received in the community.” She noted that Texas is expected to see about a 13 percent turnout for the Nov. 5 general election and Travis County is expected to see higher numbers than that. “We don’t think it’s going to approach 20 percent turnout – we would love it if it did,” she said. “Nevertheless, we want to invite everybody to come out for early voting. You can vote anywhere that it’s convenient for you and early voting runs from now through Nov. 1 and it will shut down at 7 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 1.”