There are three main reasons voters in the San Antonio area won’t get a chance to peruse a sample ballot at polling locations Tuesday, election officials said.
SAN ANTONIO — When Bexar County voters line up to vote in the Texas Primary runoffs on Tuesday, it’ll be as important as ever that they do their homework ahead of time.
Michele Carew, the county’s elections administrator, said the office’s more than 270 polling locations won’t be providing sample ballots for voters to see their options. It’s a change from past elections, including the March primaries, and there’s three main reasons for the change.
The first one is simple: Counties aren’t required by law to provide sample ballots at polling spots.
The second reason is economic, Carew said, and it has to do with the color of sample ballot paper.
“Texas Election Code requires that they be printed on yellow paper, and yellow paper is getting harder and harder to come by,” she said. “That has ben an issue since 2021, getting ahold of yellow paper.”
Lastly, the Bexar County Elections Office simply wants to cut down on waste. Carew said that, at the end of the March primaries, “we threw out probably at least a pallet’s worth of preprinted sample ballots that were never used.”
“If we don’t use everything we print, then we’re wasting all these printed sample ballots that end up in the trash,” Carew said.
She added that they’ve already gotten some feedback from voters, including residents who aren’t all that happy about the change. But she said the office isn’t ruling out bringing back sample ballots in the future, although they might be fewer in number.
“We’ll get an idea of what’s best for all the voters in Bexar County, and if we can we’ll send some,” Carew said. “We’ll listen and we’ll make the best choice.”
An online Democratic Primary runoff ballot is available to view here, and the Republican ballot here.
Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday, when major nominees like the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate and the Democratic nominee for Bexar County district attorney will be decided ahead of the General Election this fall.
The elections office said about twice as many midterm primary runoff voters made it to the polls in 2022 compared to 2018; Carew isn’t ruling out that the numbers could rise again this year. She recommended that voters make a two-part plan.
“Review your ballot. Know where you’re going to vote,” she said. “If you get there at 7 (p.m.), know that you will get the chance to vote. So just stay in line until you get through.”