Friday was the last day to cast an early vote for next week’s primary runoff elections.
The Bexar County Elections Department reported 55,015 registered voters in Bexar County cast ballots during early voting — 31,955 Democrats and 23,060 Republicans.
Democratic voters in Bexar County will select candidates in a number of federal, state, and county primary races, including U.S. senator, county commissioner for Precinct 1 and county Democratic chair.
Republican voters will pick candidates for races including three U.S. House seats, county commissioner for Precinct 3 and county Republican chair.
Polls at about 30 early voting sites were open until 8 p.m. Friday. Election day is Tuesday, July 14.
But not all voting centers will be open on Tuesday. At least eight will be closed. Each one is in a different part of the county.
Bexar County Elections Administrator Jacque Callanen said after cornavirus cases surged last week, several election judges did not want to come in.
“The crews just said ‘please, we can’t do it.’ We said we respect their thoughts. We understand that.”
On Tuesday, signs will be posted at the eight sites directing voters to nearby locations.
The elections office will have 217 sites open – and a voter can vote at any one of them. That’s down from about 280.
Callanen said it is typical to reduce the number sites during a runoff. However, that decline was pushed further by the closing of schools and some county offices, along with the elections office not setting up in retirement communities.
“As we got into the COVID, we voluntarily pulled out of the retirement communities we were in," she explained. "Obviously those were congregate settings. We reduced being at the colleges because the colleges are closed, so that took some sites away.”
Facemasks are not required to vote under the state’s emergency orders. However, sites like the Justice Center Precinct 1 offices will not be a polling location this election due to the county’s requirements of wearing face masks in government offices.
Find more information at TPR's voter's guide.
Josh Peck contributed to this report.
Joey Palacios can be reached at Joey@tpr.org and on Twitter at @Joeycules.
Lauren Terrazas can be reached at Lauren@tpr.org and on Twitter at @terrazas_lauren.
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