This story is part of the San Antonio Report’s 2026 Voter Guide. You can view all of the candidates on the Nov. 3 ballot here.

Bexar County Elections Administrator Michele Carew says she doesn’t plan to release the results of early votes and mail-in ballots until all voters in line have cast their ballot on election night.

That could mean a late night before results start rolling in from one of Texas’ largest counties.

Texas has about 19 million registered voters ahead of the Nov. 3 election. Of those, about 1.3 million are in Bexar County — the fourth largest county by population.

Polls close at 7 p.m. on Election Day, but anyone in line at closing time is still legally allowed to cast their ballot.

Most counties release the results from early votes and mail ballots right after 7 p.m., while ballots cast on Election Day are added on a rolling basis throughout the night.

Carew told TPR’s The Source on Wednesday that she chooses not to do it that way, to maintain faith in the electoral process.

“Our goal is to ensure that every voter in line is able to feel confident and that their ballot can be cast without feeling that it doesn’t count,” Carew said. “My fear is, if I get the numbers out too early … voters may leave the line and decide that it doesn’t matter.”

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This year’s ballot is packed with attention-grabbing races like the U.S. Senate contest between Republican Ken Paxton and Democrat James Talarico, plus a Texas governor’s race, top congressional contests, county races and more.

Turnout in Bexar County has already been quite high, with long lines causing one Bexar County polling location to stay open until 9 p.m. on the first day of early voting.

“Our early voting numbers will be released once everyone has cast a ballot,” Carew said. “In previous elections, we’ve had voters who were in line upwards of 10 o’clock before they were able to cast their ballot.”

Carew said the state’s election code gives her the ability to make that decision, and she could release early results closer to 7 p.m. if there are only a few voters in line.

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But, she said, she wouldn’t do it if the numbers were still quite large.

In the March primary, for example, roughly 5,000 people were still in line at 7 p.m. on the last day of voting.

“I don’t ever want it to get past 10 o’clock,” Carew said. “I can make the judgment call based upon the number who are still in line, and we do communicate with our polling locations to make a determination. If it’s just a couple hundred voters, chances are numbers will be out timely, but if it’s several thousand voters, it probably will be at least an hour.”

Bexar County made major investments in election technology this year, but still struggled to move voters quickly through lines on the first days.

They also had to make some quick adjustments after school districts reported the wrong measures on local ballots on the first day of voting. The issue has since been resolved, and Carew said they added 40 new pieces of voting equipment and check-in stations to move lines faster.

She also advised voters to use the new election wait times website to find the shortest lines as Bexar County voters can cast their ballot at any of more than 50 early voting locations.

On Election Day, there will be more than 300 voting locations to choose from throughout the county.

Voters can find a less busy location by clicking here to view the daily vote count at each Bexar County polling center. Sort locations in order of the most busy or least busy by clicking on the dark blue bar at the top of the screen.

Use this tool to download a copy of your sample ballot, and research the candidates ahead of time using the San Antonio Report’s 2026 Voter Guide.