In the more than two decades Elections Administrator Jacque Callanen has overseen elections in Bexar County, early voting turnout almost always tapers off after the first two days.

Not this year.

Amid growing excitement for the 2024 presidential election and Texas’s hotly contested U.S. Senate race, turnout on the first day of early voting in Bexar County was roughly 40% higher than the first day in 2020. Each day since then, it’s exceeded the previous day’s total — to the amazement of even a seasoned elections professional.

“Three and a half days into this election, it’s spectacular,” Callanen told reporters in a press conference on Thursday.

“We are having more voters than we’ve had in the past,” she said. “This day will be bigger than yesterday, which was bigger than the day before.”

In a rapidly growing county, Callanen said this year marked a new busiest early voting location for the first time in recent memory. Northwest Vista College, located on the county’s outskirts by the Alamo Ranch expansion, overtook Brook Hollow Library on the Northside near McAllister Park, which held the title for years but came in second place.

By midday Thursday, about 14.3% of Bexar County’s roughly 1.3 million registered voters had already cast their votes, according to Callanen.

“In three and a half days, we’ve had as many people vote as we have in some of our city and school elections and in our amendment elections,” she noted.

‘Pack your patience’

Logistically, accommodating that influx of voters has been a challenge.

Bexar County is operating 51 Early Voting centers that voters can choose between regardless of where they live.

Some have been hit by tremendous crowds, while others — like a new location at the Frank Garret Multi-Service Center near Woodlawn Park — sit empty.

“We want you to keep getting that message out to pack your patience, because some people are really shocked at the lines,” Callanen said. “Some people are shocked when they pull up and there’s not their normal parking that they’ve been to for their normal sites.”

Others have complained that slow-moving lines are a sign the county didn’t plan appropriately for this type of turnout.

At a polling center in the Elections Administration’s headquarters on Thursday, one elections staff member told another that voters were getting hung up reading the City Charter amendments on the bottom of the ballot.

To help solve that problem, staff distributed paper sample ballots to the line of voters in the hallway, hoping it would speed up the process to review them in advance.

Voting tips

• Download a copy your personalized sample ballot with this tool so you can see which races and charter amendments you’ll be asked to weigh in on.
• Sort this list of early voting locations by turnout, then choose one that’s less crowded.
• Bring a book for while you wait. In most cases, staff won’t allow the use of phones while you’re waiting in line.
• Don’t wear your political swag. You’ll be asked to take it off, cover it up or turn it inside-out before voting.