Which races are on YOUR Nov. 5 ballot? It depends on where you live.
Tracking down your congressional district, state legislative seats and county commissioner precinct can be tricky and time-consuming, but a tool from the Bexar County Elections Department will quickly generate an exact replica of the ballot you’ll see when you step into the voting booth.
With as many as 900,000 voters expected to head to the polls in Bexar County between the start of early voting on Oct. 21 and Election Day, voting sites could see long lines. And once you’re in the voting booth, only paper notes are allowed to help you fill out your ballot.
With a presidential race at the top of the ticket for every voter, ballots will also include state, county and school board races.
San Antonio residents will see six charter amendments on their ballot, while voters in Schertz will have a whopping 15 city charter amendments to decide on.
How to find your personalized sample ballot
To find your personalized sample ballot, you must be registered to vote at your current address.
From this link, you’ll be asked to enter your birthdate and the house number for your address (if your address is 123 Main Street, Apt. 2, you would enter 123).
Click the red “check registration” button, and the site will first confirm your registration status and home address. (Registered at an old address? More on that below.)
Below that will be a link to your individual sample ballot.
That sample ballot can then be printed out, marked up and brought into the voting booth. If you don’t have access to a printer, you can make notes about your choices on scratch paper and bring that with you to the voting booth. Voters aren’t allowed to look at phone and tablets.
Once you’ve retrieved your sample ballot, take some time to peruse the San Antonio Report’s 2024 Voter Guide to learn more about the candidates.
Remember, no matter where you live in Bexar County, you can vote at any of these 51 early voting locations starting Monday, Oct. 21. Hours of operation vary by day and location.
What if I’m registered at an old address?
If you haven’t updated your voter registration since moving, you’ll have to input the old address, and you can only vote based your old address. That means you might be voting for a congressional representative or county commissioner who no longer represents you.
When you show up to vote, an election official will ask if you have moved. If you answer in the affirmative, you’ll fill out a statement of residence, which will then be used to update your voter registration for the next election. You’ll still get a ballot based on your old address for this election.
If you’re registered in another Texas county, once early voting has begun, you can go to the elections office at 1103 S Frio St. and ask for a “limited ballot.” After an elections official here confirms you are registered in another county — by calling the elections office in that county — you will be able to vote for any offices that would be on both your old county of residence ballot and the Bexar County ballot.
That means you can definitely vote in the presidential and U.S. Senate race, and if you’re still in the same congressional district, you can vote in that race, too.
As part of the process to vote via limited ballot, you’ll be registered to vote in Bexar County, so that you’ll be able to vote in future elections.
If you are registered to vote in another state, you’ll need to travel to that state, where you’ll be allowed to vote in the presidential election only. And if you’re a Texan who has moved out of state but is still registered here, you can travel back to Bexar County, but you’ll only be eligible to vote in the presidential contest.
