Let’s crunch some numbers. About 190,000 people cast an early ballot in Bexar County. That’s about 20 percent of registered voters. If we look back at 2010, 196,000, or 22 percent of those registered, vote before Election Day.
Jacque Callenen is the Bexar County Elections Administrator. She said she expects more than 100,000 people to turn out on Election Day itself. “In 2010, we had 110,000 people turn out for Election Day,” said Callanen. “So I think we’re going to be right around that number, based on what we saw for early voting. I’d sure like it to be around 120,000 to 125,000, but I just don’t think that we’ll get there.”
The population in Bexar County has grown since 2010 by 50,000 registered voters; mostly in the areas outside Loop 1604.
Callanen says the number of early voting locations has grown too, to 307 voting sites. “And that’s up from the 276 that we’ve had for the last five elections. In anticipation of a higher turnout, we’ve opened more sites.”
When you look beyond Bexar County, to all the top 15 most populous counties, a total of 1,715,000 people voted early this year so far, again about 20 percent. In 2010, that figure was 1,735,000, over 12 days of early voting.
