Election Day across Bexar County ran pretty smoothly, officials said Tuesday night, with the exception of a few brief interruptions at a handful of polling sites on San Antonio’s North East Side.
There were no reports of voter intimidation, harassment or aggressive questioning.
In a 9:40 p.m. update to reporters, Elections Administrator Jacque Callanen said votes had been completely counted at 90 of the 302 total voting sites in Bexar County, and 151,000 people had voted.
Callanen said those sites saw about a third of votes in Bexar County and that four voting sites were still open, with voters still in line.
There was a last-minute rush to some polls before they closed at 7 p.m. Roughly 500 people were still in line to vote at the University of Texas at San Antonio, according to Bexar County Election officials.
At Brook Hollow Library, one of the most popular polling sites, 78 people were still in line when the polls closed at 7 p.m. and 25 people were in line to vote at Encino Library at the same time.
Callanen said Tuesday’s Election Day votes surpassed the 131,000 votes cast on Election Day in 2018, but said numbers represented a lower percentage of voters than that year’s election, due to the county’s population increase and an uptick in voter registrations.
The 2018 election saw a 49% voter turnout, she said, while this year so far, turnout has been just under 44%.
“I don’t think we’ll get to the 49%,” Callanen said. “Right now, our main goal is to get the sites closed [and] to get everybody in with their results.”
There were only minor hiccups at a handful of polling locations.
Printers were down at the Claude Black Center on San Antonio’s East Side at 8:20 a.m. Six voters either left the polling site or were turned away. A few minutes later, the printers began to work, and some voters who were waiting walked back into the center to vote.
During a 3:30 p.m. press conference at the Bexar County Elections Department, reporters asked about voting machines reportedly down at United Methodist Church on Wurzbach Road. Callanen did not confirm, but said it sounded like printers may have been down. She added it would be the voter’s choice to visit another polling site.
Election workers at the Hill Country Village City Hall polling site reported a power outage that began at 4 p.m. and lasted until 5:35 p.m. According to one election worker, there were no backup generators at the city hall. Election officials encouraged voters to visit other polling locations.
At the Hartman Center nearby, a brief power outage lasted no more than 15 minutes. A handful of voters began the voting process by filling out their ballots by hand, but were still able to vote thanks to voting machine battery backup.
