Bexar County elections officials stressed the importance of the department improving social media presence and investing in additional voting equipment.
SAN ANTONIO — Low voter turnout wrapped up the May 3 election, resulting in impending runoffs for several races including San Antonio mayor and city council seats.
“We’re all doing our part to get the voters out but ultimately it’s up to the voters to come out and cast their ballot,” said Bexar County Elections Administrator Michele Carew.
A little more than 116,000 out of 1.2 million registered voters cast their ballots in person or by mail in the latest election.
Elections officials had hoped for a turnout of at least 13-15%.
The voter turnout of 9.26% is lower than the May elections in 2019 (11.47%), 2021 (17.27%) and 2023 (15.34%).
Carew said community events such as Fiesta may have contributed to the low voter turnout. But she stressed improving social media presence and investing in additional equipment could help with streamlining the voter experience.
“If there was anything that we could change, I think that it would be us having even a stronger presence through social media. We did do several speaking engagements and going out trying to get the word out. But with all things considered with me being here only two months, I think we did what we could in a short amount of time,” Carew said. “Our new poll pads, if approved in commissioners court, will give us additional check-in stations at each location to help resolve some of the voter fatigue in the November election that lines were anywhere from two to four hours long.”
Early voting runs from May 27-June 3.
To learn more, go here.