At Hutto City Hall, the city’s only early-voting site, voter Christine Benson said she waited about 30 minutes on Wednesday afternoon. She said voters ahead of and behind her encountered scanner error messages, and poll workers used a tool to clear a jam. The message indicated her vote had been counted, she said.

Williamson County Elections Administrator Bridgette Escobedo said scanner jams can occur, especially when ballots are lengthy or turnout is high. She said election workers must wait for law enforcement to be present before opening ballot bins and removing jammed ballots, a step intended to maintain the chain of custody.

Escobedo said the bins were emptied after lunch. Another Hutto voter, David Newman, said he got through the site in about 10 minutes late in the day, despite expecting a longer wait.

Travis County Clerk Dyana Limon-Mercado also reported that election workers had encountered paper jams at multiple scanner locations. She shared an explanation on social media of how ballots can accumulate inside the machines.

Benson said she contacted Williamson County officials about the problem and was relieved to learn it appeared to have been addressed that day. She recalled waiting three hours during the primary, and said the 30-minute wait this time took up her lunch break.

Williamson County recorded 22,195 votes on Wednesday, bringing the total for the first three days of early voting to roughly 16% of the county’s registered voters. The reported delays came as early voting was underway for the November 2026 midterm election.