Harris County Clerk Teneshia Hudspeth held a news conference this morning to provide information regarding early morning voting numbers and how it is going on Election Day.

“I am pleased to inform you that all 701 vote centers are open, and more than 40,000 people have voted so far,” said Harris County Clerk Teneshia Hudspeth at the 10 a.m. news conference. “This is a major achievement.”

“Historically, it is a significant challenge for election administrators to open the polls by 7 a.m.,” added Clerk Hudspeth. “This has held true in the 12 years I worked for Republican County Clerks and the two years I worked for Democratic County Clerks.”

The County Clerk’s Office Elections Department works with the two major political parties to recruit election judges and staff the vote centers. Nevertheless, there will always be hiccups, including judges canceling at the last minute or not showing up, election workers not complying with instructions to set up ahead of Election Day, challenges setting up the equipment, and resolvable technical issues. Some of this was seen this morning when 93% of the vote centers were open by 7 a.m.

To mitigate these possible issues, the Elections Department has technicians assigned to every vote center, additional staff on standby, additional equipment on standby, and the Service Now call center that answers calls and routes them to the appropriate entities that can address them promptly.

According to Clerk Hudspeth, elections are not flawless, and these challenges occur during every election cycle. That is why, before an election the Elections Department offers training, maintains equipment, orders plenty of supplies, and makes sure the voting equipment is delivered to all locations ahead of Election Day.

As of 1 p.m., more than 87,000 citizens have voted. A total of 701 vote centers are open until 7 p.m. today. Election judges are responsible for closing and returning all the materials needed to conduct the Election Night tally.

Unofficial election results will be posted at www.HarrisVotes.com as they come in on election night, starting after 7 p.m. with Early Voting and Ballot-by-Mail results. The official results will be posted after the canvass is completed.