Early voting is underway across the southwestern states. In Texas, the polls opened Monday and for some, voting could not come soon enough.
There was a line of 40 eager voters waiting at 8 a.m. when the polls opened at a San Antonio shopping mall.
The bank of electronic voting machines never saw a slowdown of citizens like Herb Smyrl who patiently waited to cast his ballot.
“Maybe I should have waited a couple of days, the lines were pretty long,” Smyrl said.
At the top of the ticket, the races for president and U.S. senator, polling shows Republicans Mitt Romney and Ted Cruz are likely to win in Texas. However, Democrats are looking to make gains in the GOP-controlled state legislature.
Henry Gonzalez said he’s read up on the big races and didn’t mind the long lines.
“I think everyone should vote. We don’t but I think we should,” Gonzalez said.
Texas early voting runs thru Nov 2. Voters carrying their registration cards will not have to show a photo ID due to a court ruling tossing out the Texas Voter ID law.
Early voting is already underway in Nevada, Arizona, California, New Mexico, and began in Colorado today. Arizona's two largest counties, Pima and Maricopa, report that about 20 percent of early ballots have been returned already.
