BEAUMONT, Texas — On day 2 of early voting almost 2,000 people have already voted in Jefferson County.
But that's only a fraction of the registered voters in the county.
Just yesterday afternoon, only a few hundred people had voted. But Jefferson County Clerk Roxanne Acosta-Hellberg believes an afternoon rush of voters got numbers up.
"I don't live that far from here... and I don't like to last minute anything, so I like to get it done early," said Valera Messer, a voter.
Messer was one of several residents 12News spoke to at Rogers Park on Tuesday, taking advantage of Jefferson County 's early voting.
"There's helpers there to reassure you, 'Oh bring the printed ballot over this way', so it seems to run very smoothly," Messer said.
Acosta-Hellberg has been tracking this year's election numbers.
"You just hope that maybe it's not the first day wonders and everybody shows up for the first day," she said.
She tells 12News that numbers are improving.
The county recorded 470 in person voters on Monday, 654 in person voters on Tuesday, along with 549 mail-in ballots. This totals 1673 voters.
"We took the numbers from 2021, it was a comparable election and around 9,600 people voted out of 146,000 voters so that was disappointing," Acosta-Hellberg said.
While you may not be choosing your next local and state leaders, what's on this ballot is just as important, according to Acosta-Hellberg.
"It's your taxes that are going to be impacted and of course teacher retirement is piece of it," she said.
Messer worked for Beaumont Independent School District for almost 40 years and is now retired. She is especially concerned about Proposition 9, which deals with teacher retirement.
She tells 12News your vote could mean her getting a cost of living increase.
"My income doesn't go as far as it use to. I would say make your voice heard and be a part of the process," Messer said.
Early voting ends November 3 and election day is on Tuesday, November 7.
If you want to study the propositions before voting, you can go to any polling location and get a sample ballot, then go back to vote when you're ready.