Frequently Asked Questions
What is Voting Centers Now?
Voting Centers Now! is a non-partisan, grassroots, volunteer effort of Denton County election workers. We don't collect dues, raise money or accept financial contributions. All Denton County voters are welcome to participate by following these easy steps.
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Our only goal is to get Vote Centers for Denton County, which would allow us to vote at any polling place in the county throughout every election -- during Early Voting, as we do now and on Election Day, as voters do in 99 other Texas counties.
More questions about us?
Email votingcentersnow@gmail.com
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Is Election Day voting in Denton County different from Early Voting?
Yes. During Early Voting, a registered voter can cast their ballot in any polling place in Denton County. However, on Election Day, you may vote ONLY in your home precinct. The location of your precinct polling place may change from one election to the next or between Early Voting and Election Day and you'll receive no notice of the change.
If you show up in the wrong precinct on Election Day, your vote will not be counted, so you either lose the right to vote or have to rush to find the correct polling place, which may be miles away. As a result, 10-15% of those who show up to vote -- are hindered from voting every year or disenfranchised because they can't reach their home precinct during voting hours.
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I went to the wrong precinct recently on Election Day and I got to cast a ballot. Didn't that vote get counted?
Probably not. Voters who show up to vote on Election Day at a precinct other than the one that includes their current home address may ask for a Provisional Ballot.
The election judge at the precinct will ask the voter to fill out additional paperwork, then give them a special ballot. This ballot goes into a special envelope and is reviewed at the Denton Elections Office after the polls close.
In the overwhelming number of cases where someone votes at the wrong precinct, these ballots are not counted because state law requires that Election Day ballots be cast at a voter's current home precinct, unless the county uses voting centers on Election Day.
Why the difference between Early Voting rules and Election Day rules?
The Denton County Commission (the county judge plus four commissioners, all elected) has not taken the action required by the State of Texas to make it possible to use the same voting system on Election Day that we use during early voting. The commission must certify that requirements set by the Texas Secretary of State have been met, then file an application with that office.
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Part of the reason for this is that the chair of the Denton County Republican Party refuses to approve the use of Vote Centers on Election Day for primary elections. (The Democratic Party chair has agreed to this.)
Do other Texas counties have countywide voting on Election Day?
Yes, 99 Texas counties have countywide voting during early voting and on Election Day. Dallas, Tarrant and Collin counties all have countywide voting on Election Day and have for years.​ All other urban Texas counties have Vote Centers.
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Who would benefit from this change to countywide voting on Election Day and through every election?
Every legally registered voter in the county, regardless of political affiliation or where they live, would benefit from this change. There are more than 650,000 legally registered voters in Denton County.
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Has this been covered in the news media?
Yes, you can see stories about this issue on the Stay in Touch page.
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Would a change to voting centers affect other local elections, such as municipal or school board elections?
If Denton County applies for the Vote Center program and we are accepted, vote centers would be enabled for all local elections.​
​​Is this an issue of election security?
No. We have countywide voting during Early Voting using the same machines and programming that would be used on Election Day with voting centers.
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When you are issued a ballot during Early Voting now, that fact is shared with all the polling place computers at every polling location. This means you can't vote in one location during countywide voting, then go to another and vote again.
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Why would anyone oppose this?
See our GOP Objections page for the opposition's arguments.
Will a change to Vote Centers for both primary and general Elections cost more than the current system or save money?
The cost of elections would be about the same as it is now. Cost savings is not a reason to adopt countywide Election Day voting. The big advantage is convenience to all voters and reduction in the number of ballots not counted because voters showed up in the wrong place.
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The Denton Elections Administration says that if vote centers were enabled, in the beginning we would open the same number of locations for each election as we would have for a precinct-based election. Over time, we might close locations with low turnout, but there's a limit in state law on how many polling places the county must have to adequately serve voters. No one wants to see long lines at polling places.
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If we had Voting Centers, how would the County make sure that we don't wind up with too many voters at some polling places and very few at others?
The Denton Elections Department says they would start Voting Centers with about the same number of polling locations we have now. They would monitor turnout at each location for every election and make adjustments as needed over time.
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In addition, the state has guidelines for numbers of polling places and we have the experience of 99 other counties to draw on.
Why is the Denton County Republican Party blocking countywide Election Day voting?
After years of public silence about why they are blocking it, the GOP just revealed why it objects. They give six reasons based on unfounded claims of voter fraud or the argument that the convenience of their party's insiders are more important than the needs of voters.
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Are there other reasons people oppose Voting Centers?
Opponents have given these reasons for opposing Voting Centers:
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• People who can't figure out their Election Day polling place don't deserve to vote.
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• People have plenty of chances to vote anywhere in the county during Early Voting, so it doesn't matter if some people can't vote on Election Day.
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• It's not possible to do an accurate recount or audit of election results when Vote Centers are used.
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Not true. The voting system in our county since 2017 is very secure with a backup paper ballot for every vote cast. Every ballot has a six-digit code that denotes a unique combination of eligible races or ballot questions for each precinct. The codes do not identify individual voters, only the combination of races or ballot questions in a particular area.
After every election, the Denton Elections Department does a manual count of a few voting locations to test the system. They use the codes to match computerized tallies with their hand count of paper ballots. They follow a similar procedure when a recount is called for.
Recounts are rare. In our county there have been fewer than five in the past 10 years.
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• Counties with Voting Centers have more illegal voting than those that don't.
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Illegal voting is extremely rare in Texas, less than 0.00017% of all votes cast throughout the state from 2004-2021. That's 272 instances out of 94 million votes cast -- 1/10,000th of all ballots. And some of those instances involved mail-in, rather than in-person voting.
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However, it is true that since more than 85% of the people eligible to vote in Texas live in counties with Vote Centers, more of the very rare instances of illegal voting do occur in those counties.
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• We don't know exactly how many people show up at the wrong polling place because the county doesn't track it.
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Not true. Actually, we do know that 10-15% of all the voters who show up on Election Day in our county go to the wrong polling site at least once. This has been counted for three recent elections.
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• Provisional ballots get counted if there is a tie in election results.
Not true. Rejected Election Day location ballots are never counted in any circumstance, according to the Denton Elections office.
• The GOP would not be able to control who serves as presiding election judges in polling places with Voting Centers.
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Except for Election Day during primaries, there are judges from both parties at every polling location.
Political parties control the appointment of election judges. (During Early Voting, this position is called lead deputy voting clerk, but they perform the same functions as judges do on Election Day. )
Judges/lead clerks enforce an extensive set of written rules. They are supposed to enforce the rules in the same way, regardless of political affiliation. The rules for who appoints judges/lead clerks, are set by state law.
With the current system, on Election Day in primary elections, each party has its own voting locations and appoints its own presiding judges/lead clerks for each location.
With Voting Centers, each primary polling location would have two presiding judges/lead clerks, one from each party.
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For the general election, in the current system, each location has a presiding judge/lead clerk affiliated with the party that won the last gubernatorial election in that county. In Denton County, that's the GOP. Each location has an alternate judge from the party whose candidate came in second in the last gubernatorial election in that county.
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In a general election with Voting Centers, each party would have presiding judges/lead clerks at the number of polling centers proportional to number of precincts won by each party's candidate in the last gubernatorial race. All polling locations have an alternate judge from the other party.
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• The rules for voting on Election Day are more strict than during Early Voting; Voting Centers would change that.
Not true. The laws about who is eligible to vote, what forms of ID they must use, and who can assist disabled voters are the same for Early Voting and Election Day.​​
Questions about the way we vote now or how Vote Centers work?
Call Denton County Elections Administration at
(940) 349-3200 or email them at elections@dentoncounty.gov.