Bexar County Judge Peter Sakai said on Friday that he hopes voters will turn out on election day on Nov. 5 after this year saw a record number of voter registrations.
"Our elections office has announced that a record 1.28 million Bexar County residents have registered to vote, as of this past Monday. And those numbers, obviously, will continue. That is the most ever at this time," he said.
Sakai stressed that record high registration is meaningless unless voters exercise the "power" of their vote.
The judge said a lawsuit against the county by Attorney General Ken Paxton for hiring Civic Government Solutions to register 210,000 new or relocated voters throughout the county is not over. He said it may be headed to federal court. The county said it had the authority to register the voters, while Paxton disagreed.
Sakai said he did not know if the attorney general had alternative motives with the lawsuit. Some Democrats called the lawsuit an attempt to intimidate and suppress voter turnout as some polling shows Texas Republicans in their tightest races against Democrats in recent history.
With local voter turnout of more than 900,000 predicted by local election officials, Sakai worried long lines on election day could suppress turnout as voters get tired of waiting in lines. He urged voters to cast ballots early at one of 51 early voting locations between Oct. 7 and Nov. 1. Hundreds of polling sites will be open on election day itself.
Sakai said he has confidence in County Elections Administrator Jacque Callanen and the integrity of the upcoming local, state, and federal elections, including the hotly contested presidential race and U.S. Senate race between Republican incumbent Ted Cruz and Democrat Collin Allred.
He said the county's internet technology department is always on the lookout to prevent cyberattacks on all county departments, but he stressed the county's election system is a "closed" system and not directly connected to the internet, nor are the electronic voting stations and tabulators seen at polling places.
"All those voting machines are separate," Sakai said. "They're not tied into some mainframe ... and, as I understand, [the machines] all come back in [to the main elections office], and they all get tabulated ... in a very efficient way."
Sakai said threats against election workers are happening, just as in 2020. But he said security at the main elections office at 1103 South Frio has been increased — both in manpower and around its perimeter, including cameras.
Oct. 7 is the last day to register to vote in-person. Mailed voter forms must be postmarked by that date. Oct. 25 is the last day to apply for a mail-in ballot.
The 51 early voting locations also include five locations to specifically assist hearing impaired voters, Sakai said.
