SAN ANTONIO — A bumpy start to election season in Bexar County; tens of thousands of voters turned out for Super Tuesday, which created some delays in voting and getting results.
There were two things at play, leading to a long day and long night for the Bexar County Election Officials; high turnout of voters and technical difficulties.
113,650 stood in line to vote Tuesday while 139,421 voted early or sent in absentee ballots, totaling out to 253,071 votes. Additional mail-in ballots will be counted Thursday and the final count will be released.
Printer machines took 45 minutes to an hour to print due to issues with the machines and software. The ballots were also longer than usual with double the number of candidates.
“The good news is—we had a quarter of a million voters, which is extraordinary—the other news is that we are still working out the technological issues that accompany an election this large,” said Bexar County Elections Administrator Jacque Callanen.
There were 280 vote centers located throughout the County and because voters could cast their ballot at any center, it changed the dynamic of the voting process and reporting of results.
“We will look into the election issues in the next few weeks, to improve the process, so that we are more than ready for the upcoming May elections,” said Callanen.