The first day of early voting, Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026, in Collin County drew twice as many voters as the county’s previous primary, according to Elections Administrator Kaleb Breaux. The March 3, 2026, primary is Collin County’s first primary since returning to hand-marked paper ballots. Offi cials stress the ballots are hand-marked, not hand-counted. At the polling location inside the North Texas McKinney Collin County Elections Administration building on Redbud Boulevard, voters moved steadily through the line on Wednesday. “I came out to exercise my right to vote. I like to vote early,” said voter Juanita Donahue. “The process went great. In and out, no problems.” Voters are once again putting pen to paper. One man who declined to give his name said he is “not crazy” about the paper ballots. “I’m a senior. I’ve heard people say, not with me, but that if you make a mistake, you have to go and do a whole new ballot,” he said. “And the small print. I just prefer the ballots the way they used to be.” The March primary is the county’s second election using hand-marked paper ballots. The first was the November constitutional amendment election, which saw long wait times, especially on Election Day. Breaux worked alongside longtime Elections Administrator Bruce Sherbet during that election before Sherbet retired. “We took what we learned from that election and tried to make things better,” Breaux said. “We worked with our vendor, talking through some of the challenges of printing ballots in polling places.” Each ballot was shortened by two inches to help speed up printing, Breaux said. “We got feedback from the voters on ways to make marking the ballot simpler and easier,” he said. Voters now use a felt-tipped pen to fill in their choices. “It’s easier to make a mark rather than a ballpoint pen, so it’s something that, with a couple of strokes, I have completed an oval,” Breaux said while demonstrating on a sample ballot. Collin County has about 745,000 registered voters and a growing population. Breaux said even small adjustments can make a difference. “Anytime we can shave off even mere seconds from a voter’s experience, that can go a long way for someone in our position,” he said. “You have a certain window for voters to come in and vote at polling places. You start doing the math, you only have so many hours to accomplish this in.” Donahue said she had no issues with the process. “The paper ballot was fine for people that need a little bit larger print. I recommend bringing your readers, but other than that, it took a few minutes longer, but it was fine,” she said. Breaux encourages voters to vote early and review their sample ballot ahead of time. He also addressed concerns about ink bleeding through the ballot. “If they vote and maybe are too aggressive on the way they bubble in their oval, and it bleeds through maybe on ballot text but not necessarily filling in an oval for a different candidate on the other side,” he said, noting that oval selections are not mirrored on both sides. Breaux said tabulators at polling locations will alert voters if something is wrong, such as an unreadable mark. “The voter can then correct the ballot,” he said. Collin County officials also noted some delays in voter registration certificates statewide, in part because of redistricting. Breaux said registered voters do not need that certificate to cast a ballot, only proper identification. Early voting runs through Friday, Feb. 27, 2026. The county’s elections website includes an interactive map with polling locations and wait times. ...read more read less