Big turnout in early voting for San Antonio mayoral, council runoff
UPDATE 6/5 10:45 a.m.:
The Bexar County Elections Department announced Tuesday evening nearly 82,000 people voted early in the San Antonio municipal election runoff. That compares to 67,000 people who voted early in the May 4th general election.
ORIGINAL:
SAN ANTONIO (KTSA News) — After a paltry municipal general election early voting turnout this year, the Bexar County Elections Department said the runoff has seen an impressive turnout so far.
“We’re really pleased with the early voting numbers,” Bexar County elections administrator Jacque Callanen told KTSA News Tuesday. “We’ve seen the highest turnout for early voting that we had seen in a long time for a City of San Antonio election.”
That figure is already handling defeating the nearly 67,000 voter figure seen in the May 4th general election.
“Through noon [Tuesday], we had 72,000 people vote early,” Callanen stated.
The reasons for the bigger runoff turnout isn’t clear, whether was because people were too busy during Fiesta and Spurs playoffs to go out and vote or people waiting for the broad field of candidates to be narrowed down to two.
However, it has been a trend.
“We had seen this in the last two or three runoff elections for the City of San Antonio mayor where the runoff is higher,” Callanen stated. “It’s hard to explain.”
Early voting for the June 8th election wraps up at 8 p.m. Tuesday. After that, the only other chance San Antonio residents will have to select a new mayor or council member in districts 2, 4 and 6 will be this Saturday.
If you have not voted yet, Callanen said there are a few things to remember about this race that are different than the May 4th election.
“Number one, they must be San Antonio residents,” Callenan stated. Though the city’s general election was also only for city residents, the June 8th vote does not have any other items available for people who live outside of the City of San Antonio.
If you aren’t sure whether you are a City of San Antonio resident, you can put in your address and birth date into the Bexar County Elections website to see if you are eligible and to see where you vote.
If that doesn’t work, other ways to figure out whether you are a City of San Antonio resident or not include:
- Do you put your trash into bins that say “City of San Antonio” on them and roll them to the street?
- When you call 911, does the San Antonio Police Department or San Antonio Fire Department show up?
- Do you pay property taxes to the City of San Antonio (not just the county, schools, other districts or other city)?
- Does your home come up before the sign that says “Leaving San Antonio city limit” or “Bexar County road maintenance begins”?
If all of the above do not apply to you, odds are you are not eligible to vote in the City of San Antonio municipal election. However, your voice will be heard by voting in the county elections or your local city elections if you live in a city like Alamo Heights, Balcones Heights, Live Oak, Castle Hills, etc.
To vote during the early voting period or this Saturday, you need to be a registered voter and have a photo ID.
“It does not matter that they did not vote in the May 4th election,” Callanen stated. “They are still eligible to cast a ballot in the June 8th election.”
But if you did vote in the May 4th election and you live on the outskirts of the San Antonio city limits, your polling location may not be the same this time around.
“When we had the May 4th election, some of the areas that were on the edge of town maybe were combined with a Judson ISD or a Northside ISD,” Callanen stated. “But for this election, all polling sites will be in the footprint of San Antonio.”
When in doubt, check the county elections site to see where you will need to go to vote this Saturday.
