Protecting the Polls: Lubbock Residents Speak About Voting During Pandemic

Masks were mandated during in-person voting at polling centers for the 2020 elections. (Lucinda Holt)

By Barrett Bergez 

Sam Norman, Ph.D., has been a resident of Lubbock for nearly 70 years and said he has experienced unique election and political scandals from Watergate to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

The difference in this election cycle: Norman said this has been different due to the pandemic impacting voter turnout at physical election sites.

“From observation, I’ve watched how different this has been than any other election that I’ve observed, and or been a part of,” Norman said.

Dorothy Kennedy, Lubbock County election administrator, has worked in Lubbock County for 28 years, and the 2020 presidential election marked her seventh in the county.

Kennedy said the pandemic brought a host of changes to the logistics of the election in Lubbock County from the number of early voting days to acquiring personal protection gear for poll workers.

Kennedy said Gov. Greg Abbott issued a proclamation which resulted in an extra six days added to the early voting schedule.

“Adding those extra six days to the election cycle of in-person voting during early voting, that changed a lot of things,” Kennedy said, “workers were having to work an extra week, they were really tired by the end.”

There were more than 20 early voting locations for residents of Lubbock County, according to the elections office website.

The first three days of early voting saw lines at many voting locations with the last two days busy with those wanting to place their votes, Kennedy said.

Paige Moskowitz, election research fellow at Democracy Works, said this presidential election saw more total votes cast than in any election prior.

“There was a far greater number of mail-in ballot early voting than there normally is,” Moskowitz said, “and Texas, for example, passed its 2016 voters out of just early voting.”

Lubbock County Elections Office, 1308 Crickets Ave. (Lubbock County Elections Office website)

In the first week of early voting, Kennedy said records for voter turnout were broken not only in Lubbock County but also across Texas.

More than 9.7 million votes had been cast at the end of early voting, according to The Texas Tribune.

Moskowitz said while the pandemic caused people to be more inclined to alternate forms of voting, such as mail-in or early voting, it was the grassroots organizations and community organizers who drove the record-breaking number of early votes and mail-in ballots.

“It wasn’t just the pandemic – that’s why people early voted,” Moskowitz said, “it was the people who were saying, ‘there’s a pandemic, here’s the other option for voting.’”