HOUSTON – As election day continues, another Texas politician has had trouble casting their vote.
Jarvis Johnson, a member the Texas House of Representatives, was at Booker T. Washington High School at 7 a.m. to cast his ballot. However, there was a glitch in the computer’s system that placed him in the wrong precinct. The issue was fixed quickly, and Johnson and his family were able to vote.
“[I was] a little nervous,” Johnson said. “But at the end of the day, I have faith in the system. With technology and computers, there’s always going to be an issue.”
Johnson added that the malfunction turned a typically swift transaction into a 30-minute ordeal, but he was happy the situation raised awareness for technical issues surrounding voting.
“I don’t want anybody to be discouraged,” he said. “This is the time in which these things happen. Anytime you’re in a very consequential time and you’re needing to cast your ballot, you want to make sure it’s done right... If it took 30 minutes or it took 3 hours, I certainly was going to stay here and make sure it was corrected.”
The situation marks the second time a public official has run into turbulence on Super Tuesday, as Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg had an issue with an assistant accidentally casting a ballot in her name.