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Bond issues, charter amendments up for vote in Texoma

TEXOMA – There is less than an hour left for voters to head to the polls.  On the ballot this year are bond issues in the Duncan, Central High, Chattanooga and Velma-Alma school districts, as well as a number of school board races.  And Lawton voters are deciding on 11 proposed changes to the city's charter.

Comanche County Election Board Secretary Monica Baughman says voting has been light all day.  She says this is also the first election with the new ballot machines and so far, they have held up.

Ballots, polling stations and voting machines fill a room at the Nazarene Church in Lawton.  Baughman visited several precincts like it to see how things were going, and she heard a familiar story from precinct workers.

"There's not been many people voting," said Baughman.

Baughman said it does not surprise her.  She said February's annual school elections are always the lightest turnout.  And in Lawton, there is not even the lure of a bond proposal or a head-to-head race.

"Eleven propositions, city charter amendments, which every election I consider important.  But there's not any candidates to vote on," said Baughman.

Baughman says the new voting machines held up well, in spite of the fact that all those propositions would not fit on a single ballot.  That means Lawton voters had to feed two of them through the machine.

"There's been a couple glitches, people trying to stick both ballots through at the same time.  And of course that's going to jam the machine."

Baughman says the old machines made a loud beep when everything was "all clear".  This one barely makes any noise at all.

"I've actually had to replace one e-scan because it was jammed and we couldn't get the ballot unstuck.  So we had to take another machine and get it rebooted up."

Baughman says of the 54,000+ eligible Comanche County voters for this election, she anticipates only about 1,600 will have voted by the time polls close at 7 p.m.

Election totals will run in prime time tonight on 7News and on the 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. newscasts.  You can also check for vote total updates anytime at www.kswo.com