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Michele Carew, the Bexar County elections administrator, says her department is 100% ready for the Nov. 3 election. Early voting runs from Oct. 19 through Oct. 30.
Early voting polling sites are open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday and noon to 6 p.m. Sunday during the first week. During the second and final week, polling sites are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Local early voting sites include some city halls, libraries, churches, community centers and college campuses.
Despite concerns about registration backlogs and a lengthy suspended-voter list, Bexar County is prepared for turnout at levels typically seen in presidential election years, thanks to round-the-clock work by county elections staff.
Carew said no one will be turned away from a polling site.
"I wanted the community to know our election process is working exactly as it should," she said during a news conference at county election headquarters on Friday. "Most of the delays that we've had and that we've encountered in the past couple of weeks, my team has been working around the clock since June to prepare for this election."
Tensions among voters appear to be rising as Election Day approaches. Those tensions were on display during President Donald Trump’s rally at Freeman Coliseum earlier this month. Protesters heckled the president several times, drawing loud responses from his supporters. Deputies escorted 18 people out of the rally.
Carew sought to reassure voters that polling sites will be safe places to cast ballots. Election judges and sheriff’s deputies are trained to handle potential disturbances, and the county’s Office of Emergency Management is also involved in election security. Carew also said that, under Texas law, ICE agents are not allowed to enter polling sites.
"The main message that we are giving to our judges and to the voters is 'if you see something, say something' because our judges and clerks are inside the polling sites, so if there's something going on outside, that needs to be reported immediately."
The county’s investment in high-tech voting equipment is expected to help reduce wait times. Carew said historically busier polling sites will have additional voter check-in stations and voting equipment to prevent bottlenecks at both stages of the process. The assignments are based on voting patterns from 2024.
Carew also reminded the media and election night observers that, under state law, early voting results cannot be released on election night until everyone waiting in line to vote has cast a ballot.
Bexar County has 1.3 million registered voters. Even with 50% turnout, that would mean 650,000 ballots cast during the election period, with most expected to be cast during in-person early voting.
