SAN ANTONIO – It’s election day!
Tens, if not hundreds of thousands of Bexar County voters are expected to cast their vote today during the general, special, charter and bond elections.
Preview the full Bexar County ballot here.
There are more than 1.2 million registered voters in Bexar County this year — and 358,188 took advantage of the early voting period. That means about 70% of registered voters have yet to cast their vote in this election.
Voters can cast their ballot at any of the 302 voting sites in Bexar County.
Last month, a judge ordered Bexar County to add dozens more polling locations in response to a lawsuit brought by the Texas Organizing Project. State law requires the number of polling locations to be half the number of precincts. Activists pushed for 388 polling sites, half the number of precincts in the county, but they compromised with county commissioners on 302 sites after some precincts were found not to have any registered voters.
Some voters have reported issues at several voting sites Tuesday morning. The elections office said the issues are being resolved.
Bexar County Elections Administrator Jacque Callanen said she would give voting updates throughout the day. You can watch those updates in this article.
These are the estimated times for Callanen’s scheduled briefings:
11 a.m. (Watch below)
3 p.m. update (Watch below): Callanen said polling locations across Bexar County are averaging about 11,000 voters an hour, though some locations are busier than others. In the eighth hour of Election Day, just more than 88,800 ballots have been cast.
“So I think that’s pretty amazing,” Callanen said during her 3 p.m. update on Tuesday.
Thirty-eight Bexar County sites have only seen double-digit voters, but busier sites like Brookhollow Branch Library and Encino Branch Library have seen more than 800 voters each.
Voters who are experiencing long wait times should head to nearby voting centers, as they may have shorter lines, she said.
“If there’s a long line at a poll... they can go to another site and literally walk right in,” she said, adding that “it’s going smoothly.”
4:30 p.m. update (Watch below): Four polling locations in Bexar County have power outages and limited battery power to allow voters to continue using their equipment, according to Elections Administrator Jacque Callanen.
The four locations without power are the following:
- Hidden Forest Elementary
- Hartman Center
- Huebner Elementary
- Hill Country Village
All voting equipment has a three-hour battery life, Callanen said. But voters are asked to visit other nearby locations in the meantime.
The CPS outage map shows 1,100 customers are without power.
Find the CPS Energy outage map here
9:40 p.m. update (Watch below): Bexar County Elections Administrator Jacque Callanen said 151,000 people voted in November’s election, a 43.9% turnout so far, as others are still in line voting.
“It’s been a day,” she told the media.
Callanen said registered voters grew by 11.5% this year compared to 2018. And early voting was down 9% this year.
Callenen said four sites were still online, but it’s unclear how many people were still voting. Workers are still trying to get the sites closed down.