SAN ANTONIO – The Bexar County Elections Department is still investigating a glitch in a software system that led to results not coming in until the early morning hours after Election Day.
Bexar County Elections Administrator Jacque Callanen said the issue delayed the posting of cumulative numbers, which includes Election Day, early and absentee votes.
The system crashed three times and prevented the office from posting cumulative totals, Callanen said.
The unofficial results were announced just before 3 a.m. Wednesday.
Callanen said her “biggest fear” was a candidate going to bed last night and waking up to a different election result due to the delay in counting votes.
Record 253,000 vote in Bexar County for primary election amid software issues
In Bexar County, 253,071 votes — 113,650 on Election Day and 139,421 early and absentee — were cast in the primary election.
A record number of people voted in the primary, Callanen said, even though the percentage of voter turnout was slightly lower than years past.
Final results are pending the count of mail-in ballots.
Early voting results were released nearly an hour later than the usual 7 p.m. on Election Day. Then the county’s election page briefly crashed, and when results were posted, they were in three separate tallies: early voting, absentee ballots and Election Day returns, which were still not complete.
Texas March 2020 Primary Election Results
Callanen said while she is pleased with voter turnout, the department will investigate the issue to see what exactly went wrong.
“We will look into the election issues in the next few weeks, to improve the process, so that we are more than ready for the upcoming May elections," she said.
Another issue she pointed to was that it was tougher for election judges to learn the new system.
Runoff elections will be held on May 26.
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