SAN ANTONIO — Just a few thousand Bexar County residents ventured out to cast an early ballot ahead of Saturday's special runoff election to determine two of three at-large appointments to the county's appraisal district board.
The turnout amounts to just over nine voters per day across 41 voting sites during the early-vote period lasting from June 3-11. Removing the highest-attended location, Brook Hollow Branch Library, drops that daily per-site average to under nine voters.
The 3,452 early voters amounts to the lowest for any Bexar County election since a September 2021 special runoff to determine the state representative for District 118. The same 41 sites use during early voting will be operational on Saturday.
According to Bexar County Elections Administrator Jacque Callanen, it's "highly recommended" that local elections officials stick with operating the same number of polling locations during the runoff as were available during earlier main elections.
"That's the overarching direction," Callanen told KENS 5, adding her team worked with the appraisal district to iron out the logistics of the election.
This is the first year that Texas voters in the state's largest counties are able to elect representatives on their local appraisal boards, according to the Texas Tribune. When voters approved constitutional amendments to lower property taxes this year, they also approved new political positions within their appraisal districts that were up for election in May.
Appraisal districts determine annual property valuations based on market value, which helps local taxing entities calculate how much tax revenue they can receive in a given year and set their tax rates and budgets. Since 1980, these districts have included a property tax appraiser and an appointed board.
One of the new appointments was determined on May 4, where Naomi Elizabeth Miller defeated Anna Campos outright in a two-person race for Place No. 1. But the other two races had multiple candidates, none of whom reached the 50% threshold of support necessary to avoid a runoff.
For Place No. 2, Erika Hizel is going up against Stephen Spears. In Place No. 3, G.L. "Larry" Lamborn and Robert Bruce are facing off.
"We are extremely thankful to Ms. Callanen and her staff for navigating us through the process," said Jennifer Rodriguez, the Bexar County Appraisal District's communications director. "We encourage all registered voters to participate in this inaugural election and cast a vote for each place."
At least 29,000 ballots were cast in each of the three appraisal district races last month, but it was a ballot packed with three dozen other offices and questions, including school trustees, propositions, and mayors of various smaller Bexar County communities.
More than 34,000 Bexar County voters would have to head to the polls on Saturday to match the total May 4 election turnout.
But rarely do Election Day ballots number higher than early ones, runoff or otherwise. According to county data, the last time it happened in Bexar County for an office was that special 2021 race.
Despite the low early vote turnout, the two-race ballot is costing the county money. Callanen says a minimum of three people – a presiding election judge, an alternate judge and an election clerk – are required to staff local sites, no matter the size of the election. That amounts to at least 123 poll workers across all sites, and each of those workers gets paid by the hour, according to the election department website.
It cost at least $181,056 to pay for those positions across the county's 41 sites during the early-vote period this month. That comes out to $52.44 per voter, based on the count of actual voters who cast ballots.
Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday. Find a full list of voting locations here.
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