Overview
- Record or near-record early turnout drove a surge across major Texas counties after early voting began Oct. 19, producing nearly 1.5 million ballots in the first two days and continued heavy participation through Oct. 21.
- Bexar County reported missing or transposed local measures on some ballots caused by state-supplied district data, fixed those ballots the same day, and confirmed scanner jams at a Leon Valley site that produced waits up to two hours.
- Counties responded by adding voting equipment and check-in stations, deploying technicians and emergency ballot bins, staffing phone teams, and launching apps or maps that show polling-place wait times to manage lines.
- VoteHub analysis shows the early electorate leaned more Democratic than the same period in 2024, but political analysts warn those early patterns do not reliably predict final results and may reflect timing shifts in when voters cast ballots.
- Operational limits are complicating recovery: Bexar officials said a backlog of mailed voter registration cards persists because local printing capacity is limited to about 250 cards per day, slowing outreach and confirmation for affected voters.