Bexar bracing for a huge turnout
Early voting begins today; mail ballots already beat 2016’s total
Voter registration exploded in Texas the last two weeks before the deadline, leaving a recordsetting 16.9 million eligible to cast ballots as early voting begins today.
Bexar County was right up there with the other big guys, increasing its rolls by 12.6 percent over the hotly contested 2016 presidential election between Hillary Clinton and now-President Donald Trump.
Even before the polls open for in-person voting today, Bexar County Elections Administrator Jacque Callanen said 41,000 Bexar residents already had submitted their mail ballots — more than the entire total of mail ballots received in 2016.
“This sort of feels like the calm before the storm,” Callanen said at elections headquarters downtown Monday, where people were again lined up outside to personally hand in their mail ballots to ensure delivery.
The elections office at 1103 S. Frio St. is one of 48 early voting sites open daily through Oct. 30 across the county, along with city libraries that typically draw a large turnout and four new mega vote centers that will help facilitate social distancing during the pandemic.
The mega sites are Palo Alto College Performing Arts Center on the South Side, St. Paul Community Center on the West Side, Alzafar Shrine Auditorium on the North Side and the countyowned AT&T Center on the East Side.
Early voting sites will be open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday; noon to 6 p.m. Sunday; 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Oct. 1924; noon to 6 p.m. Oct. 25; and 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Oct. 26-30.
Officials have been bracing for a record turnout of 60 percent or higher, and the numbers so far support that trend, Callanen said.
As of Monday, Bexar County had 1,181,842 registered voters. There still are about 5,000 registration forms at the Texas secretary of state’s office in Austin and
an additional 500 that are pending state verification.
Statewide, there was a 12 percent increase in voters.
Nowhere have the gains been greater than along Interstate 35 — a region that has become a blue spine in the heart of an otherwise red state. Of the 1.8 million voters added since 2016, half have come from the 21 counties that stretch from Laredo north into San Antonio, Austin, Waco and the Dallas-Fort Worth region.
The biggest percentage increase has been in Central Texas, where Comal, Hays and Williamson counties all have seen their voter registration rolls grow by 24 percent or more.
Democrats have reason to be hopeful about the voter registration gains since 2016. The biggest gains in total voters have been in Bexar, Travis and Harris counties — all solidly blue areas.
“There’s an energy out there,” former San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro said on a conference call with former Congressman Beto O’Rourke on Monday. “There’s a hunger for change.”
But Republicans say they’ve been aggressive in registering new voters themselves over the last two years. Trump’s campaign has been organizing and mobilizing voters far more aggressively than it was able to do four years ago.
To have registered in time for the Nov. 3 elections, voter registration forms had to be postmarked by Oct. 5 if sent by mail. In Bexar County, more than 1,000 people registered in person that day at election headquarters to make sure they beat the deadline.
Since then, the elections staff has been alphabetizing thousands of mailed registration forms that didn’t get postmarked in time in anticipation of questions from potentially angry would-be voters.
“We have to have that information, so when that voter goes to the polls and they’re not registered, we have the proof,” Callanen said, proof that the person’s form wasn’t postmarked by the Oct. 5 deadline.
With the forms at hand, the elections administrator said, staff can tell the person, “Here it is. It came in on the 9th; it came in on the 10th.”
Yes, it’s that kind of emotional election.
The department has sent out more than 97,000 mail ballots, Callanen said, and more are still going out. In 2016, a total of 58,000 were sent out; about 39,000 were returned.
Because Bexar County operates its elections through a department that does not have fully functioning satellite offices, the elections office downtown is the only site authorized under state law to serve as a mail ballot dropoff location. Voters turning in a mail ballot must show a photo ID and sign in.
About 400 to 600 ballots are being hand-delivered daily at election headquarters, Callanen said.
The department also is getting a slew of mail ballots from the Postal Service.
“The system is working here in Bexar County,” and the county’s election website has a link for voters to sign up online to track their mail ballots electronically, Callanen said.
“They really shouldn’t have to drive down here,” she added.
Voters can look up addresses for all polling sites at bexar.org/elections. Other useful sites are planyourvotesa.org and vote411.org. Voters need to have a photo ID but are not required to show a voter registration card.
Under state law, voters can carry sample ballots or other paper aids into the polls, but they are not allowed to use smartphones or other electronics.
Callanen said voters can get in and out in a few minutes, reducing the risk of spreading COVID-19, if they prepare in advance. Voters will be supplied with gloves, pencils or finger cots to prevent direct contact with commonly touched surfaces.
“My pledge to the election officials is we’re going to keep them safe. My pledge to the voters is we’re going to keep them safe. So the less time you have to spend in that poll site, it’s a sign of respect for everyone,” she said.