As the final day of early voting came to an end Friday Montague County voters had a record-breaking turnout topping 51% of registered voters through Thursday.
Nov. 5 is expected to be one of the biggest elections in years, so many may be avoiding election day crowds. Voters should be prepared for longer lines on the busy election day.
Elections Administrator Ginger Wall said as of Friday morning everything has run pretty smoothly with 8,072 voters casting early ballots through Thursday. There are 15,654 registered voters in the county.
Early voting ended on Friday and Wall said she was expecting it could hit 80% total turnout. When asked if she had any reminders for voters on election day, Wall said do not wear political shirts, hats or other items that support a candidate or issue.
“Anything like that is considered electioneering and it is illegal by law within 100 feet of the polling location. The clerks asked one man to go turn his T-shirt inside out and he refused and got mad. This is just a friendly reminder we are just following the rules,” said Wall.
Election day voting will be 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the following locations: Montague County Annex Community Room, 11339 State Hwy. 59N, Montague; Bowie Senior Citizen Center, 501 Pelham St; Bowie Public Library, 301 Walnut St.; Nocona H.J. Justin Building, 102 Clay St.: Tales ‘N’ Trails Museum, 1522 E. U.S. Hwy. 82; Saint Jo Civic Center, 101 E Boggess St.; Forestburg Community Center, 16617 FM 455; Sunset City Hall, 119 FM 1749; Ringgold Fire Hall, 17832 N. U.S. Hwy. 81 and Valley View Baptist Church, 6159 FM 103, Spanish Fort.
To see a sample ballot visit the county website at co.montague.tx.us, click the elections tab. Remember Montague County has county-wide voting where voters can cast their ballots at any of the precinct locations.

Read the full story in the weekend Bowie News.