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Nearly a year later, records reveal what went wrong during March primary in Bexar County

Configuration of election database caused slowdown in reporting of election results

Bexar County Elections Administrator Jacque Callanen

SAN ANTONIO – Nearly a year after a glitch led to a delay in reporting election results during the March 2020 primary, Bexar County election officials have finally released records explaining what went wrong.

The database used for the election was configured in a way that caused a slowdown in vote reports being created, according to an election review and analysis report released by the county earlier this month.

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“The method used to define the Early Voting Polls in combination with the lengthy ballot in this Primary Election required additional steps and processing to obtain consolidated election results,” the report states.

The system crashed three times and prevented the elections office from posting cumulative totals, Callanen said during a press conference the morning after the primary.

The unofficial results were not announced until just before 3 a.m., much later than had been the case in past elections.

The release of records comes nearly 10 months after KSAT requested them and following a complaint filed by KSAT with the Texas Attorney General’s Office last summer after election officials did not respond to a formal request for the documents.

To date, county elections officials have still not responded to a request for records pertaining to the testing, evaluation and purchase of the voting machines, which made their debut during the November 2019 constitutional amendment election.

In September, six months after KSAT made its requests, AG officials wrote that they had not received a request for a ruling from Callanen’s office.

Callanen released the report last week but did not offer an explanation about what took so long to respond to the records request.

The report indicates county voting systems have been upgraded and that the elections office instituted best practice procedures for programming tabulation equipment in an effort to eliminate the issues that surfaced in March.

The issues appeared to be corrected during November’s general election.


About the Authors
Dillon Collier headshot

Emmy-award winning reporter Dillon Collier joined KSAT Investigates in September 2016. Dillon's investigative stories air weeknights on the Nightbeat and on the Six O'Clock News. Dillon is a two-time Houston Press Club Journalist of the Year and a Texas Associated Press Broadcasters Reporter of the Year.

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