Voting News

Early voting totals and more info on Election Day '24 in Dallas

Native Vote SA Early Voting Rall election

November 5 is the big election.

Courtesy photo

Tuesday November 5 is election day, which means it's time to vote. The Presidential race between Democratic candidate Kamala Harris and Republican candidate Donald Trump is the biggest contest. Yahoo says that the outcome will be determined by seven swing states, in order of Electoral College votes: Pennsylvania (19), Georgia (16), North Carolina (16), Michigan (15), Arizona (11), Wisconsin (10), and Nevada (6).

In addition to president, Texans can cast their ballots for many Texas officials running for office at federal, state, and local levels. More info can be found in this voting guide, and there is also information on three propositions before Dallas voters — S, T, and U — here.

Polls are open from 7 am-7 pm.

This roundup gathers information on public transportation, early voting, and some pro-voting efforts by local businesses.

Public transportation is free
Transportation agencies in both Dallas and Fort Worth are offering free rides as follows:

Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) is providing free transportation to polling locations within the DART Service Area on Tuesday, November 5. Voters should show their voter registration card or government ID and can ride at no cost on all DART buses, trains, GoLink, the Dallas Streetcar, Paratransit Services, and the TRE between EBJ Union and CentrePort/DFW Airport stations.

Trinity Metro will offer free rides for voting on all local services. Customers who are riding to or from the polls are eligible for free rides on Trinity Metro buses, Trinity Metro On-Demand rideshare services (including paratransit) and Trinity Metro TEXRail. Free rides also include Trinity Railway Express stations in Tarrant County, including CentrePort. To obtain a free ride, customers should notify their driver or train conductor that they are traveling to or from a voting location.

GoLink riders can use promo code VOTEPRES at checkout for a complimentary Adult Local Day Pass in the DART GoPass app.

How to find a voting location
The State of Texas organizes election information and voting locations by county. To find voting locations, click the link for your county:

Collin County Election Information (Plano, Richardson, Carrollton)
Dallas County (Addison, Carrollton, Cockrell Hill, Dallas, Farmers Branch, Garland, Glenn Heights, Highland Park, Irving, Rowlett, University Park)
Denton County (Carrollton)
Ellis County (Glenn Heights)
Rockwall County (Rowlett)

Early voting numbers
According to an analysis by the Texas Tribune, more than 9 million Texans voted in person during the two weeks of early voting or returned their absentee ballots by November 1 — representing nearly half of all registered voters, or 48.6 percent. (The total number of voters in Texas is 18.6 million.) It's down from 2020, but in 2020, the early voting period was extended to three weeks.

There was also a decline in mail-in voting: In 2020, 937,870 Texans voted by mail, but in 2024, 347,652 voted by mail. However, as the Tribune notes, there was a greater emphasis on mail-in ballots in 2020. Mail-in ballots can still be accepted until November 6.

Voting time off
Half Price Books is closing its stores (120 locations in 19 states) early on election day to give employees time to vote. The brand has a longstanding history of advocating for First Amendment Rights, and want to ensure that employees don't experience any obstacles in voting.

Reunion Tower
Reunion Tower will mark Election Day with two displays that will toggle back and forth:

"Vote" for Election Day
U.S. Flag for Election Day

The displays are one in a series of holiday-themed light shows that the little ball will display throughout November. (Continuing from October, the building will continue its support of the fall bird migration which lasts until November 17 by adjusting its light shows to protect migrating birds, reducing brightness from sunset to 11 pm, and then going dark completely after 11 pm.

Colin Allred watch party
On November 5, Congressman Colin Allred, who is running for U.S. Senate, will host an Election Night watch party at the Lonhorn Ballroom in his hometown Dallas. Allred earned endorsements from five major newspapers in Texas in five cities: Austin-American Statesman, Dallas Morning News, Houston Chronicle, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, and the San Antonio Express-News — all the same five cities where CultureMap has bureaus, yay.

celebrities election

pet protection

How to protect Texas pets against the dangerous New World screwworm fly

MPhoto by Tran Mau Tri Tam ✪ on Unsplash

Make sure these guys are up on their flea and tick meds.

Two New World screwworm cases in dogs are among more than 30 confirmed instances in Texas and New Mexico, prompting warnings Wednesday, July 8 from veterinarians and humane societies that pet owners need to remain vigilant to protect their animals.

The parasite reappeared in cattle in the U.S. in June, more than 50 years after it had been largely eradicated from the country. The pest is actually the larvae of the New World screwworm fly. It eats live flesh and fluids rather than dead material, as the larvae of most fly species do.

Here is what to know about the parasite, the threat it poses to pets and how to protect them:

Screwworm fly larvae can infest any mammal
The fly's migration north from Panama starting in 2024, and through Mexico in 2025, has agriculture officials warning that it poses a threat to the $113 billion U.S. cattle industry, but the larvae can hatch and breed in any mammal, including wildlife, dogs, cats and occasionally humans.

The problem develops when a female fly lays its eggs in open wounds and mucus. After the eggs hatch, the larvae feed for about a week before maturing, dropping to the ground and continuing to develop into an adult fly.

The American Veterinary Medical Association says newborn animals and animals with open wounds or who have undergone surgery or other medical procedures recently are especially vulnerable. Even a tick bite can host an infestation, Aaron Grady, executive director of the Houston Humane Society shelter, said during a webinar on the screwworm.

Screwworm fly close-up The goal is to stop these flies from successfully breeding. Photo courtesy of Texas A&M AgriLife

Infestation signs include restlessness and bad smell
Animal health experts say pet owners in areas where the screwworm is present — southern and southwestern Texas and southeastern New Mexico so far — should watch their animals closely and examine them for wounds, cuts and bites regularly.

Pet owners should look for any maggots or movement in a wound. Other signs include a foul smell and restlessness or anxiety in an animal, or an animal “hyper-fixating on looking or chewing in a certain area of the body," said Melissa Stansell, a veterinarian at the shelter Austin Pets Alive!

Any one of those is reason enough to go to a veterinarian. The affected animal is likely in a great deal of pain, and that can cause death from shock. The larvae also can cause death if they move into vital organs or by causing infections that turn deadly.

Flea, tick medications can stop an infestation
Humane society officials and veterinarians said shelters across Texas are trying to prevent infestations in animals by giving them prescription flea and tick medications. They recommend that pet owners do the same.

“It will kill the larvae as they ingest the blood and tissue,” Stansell said. “The chemical compositions of those products are what kill the actual larval stages of these flies.”

Veterinarians also can treat infestations and animals can recover if pet owners contact them quickly. Stansell said the treatment could include antibiotics.

“It is only fatal if left untreated,” she said.

An effort to eradicate the fly again is underway
The New World screwworm fly is a tropical species and decades ago would disappear each year when colder weather arrived with the fall or winter.

But state and U.S. Department of Agriculture officials aren't waiting for the weather to turn. They've returned to an eradication method that worked decades ago, breeding sterile male flies and releasing them into the wild. The female New World screwworm fly mates once in her monthslong life, and if her partner is sterile, her eggs won't hatch — causing the population in an area to drop and then disappear.

For years, the only factory breeding sterile flies in the Western Hemisphere was in Panama, but the USDA invested $21 million to convert a site in southern Mexico from breeding fruit flies to recently start breeding screwworm flies. The agency also plans to spend $750 million on a new fly factory in Texas, set to open next year.

screwworm fly pets

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Early voting totals and more info on Election Day '24 in Dallas

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