Bexar voting breaks record

Tuesday's 56.96 percent voter turnout is the highest on record for Bexar County.

There are 931,028 registered voters in Bexar County and 530,278 of them voted in this election.

Elections Administrator Jacquelyn F. Callanen said at least 200,000 voters were expected to cast votes on Election Day, but the numbers did not reach this level, which she attributed to a record number of early voters.

"We've had a great turnout. It was huge. I think they listened to us. They came early," Callanen said.

She said the media should be complimented for promoting early voting because that made Election Day easier.

"I'm really proud of this," Callanen said.

Media liaison Donna Parker was hired to organize Bexar County's efforts toward a successful election.

This was the first time Bexar County made use of such services. "We've been working on this since July."

Parker said, "The first big push was for voter registration. The second big push was for early voting. We wanted to get the Web site out there. We wanted to get 335-VOTE out there. The Web site really worked."

Early on Election Day, the Web site received one hit per second.

Ninety-nine percent of the questions asked took one half of a second to answer, Parker said.

Some of Parker's efforts included coordinating library drives for voter registration and working with the San Antonio Board of Realtors as an umbrella organization for realtors to inform transplants on Bexar County voting.

Parker also worked with the San Antonio Apartment Association to have fliers hung in the mailrooms of almost 1,000 apartment complexes.

Servicemen and women have their own set of rules, so Parker worked with the military installations to reach this segment of the electorate.

Public service announcements featuring Olympic gold medalist Josh Davis appeared on local airwaves.

Suspense voters wait until the last minute to figure out when and where to vote.

Parker worked to locate them and have them update their information in a timely manner.

Analyst programmer José Jackson said, "I think it helped."

For more information on Bexar County voting results, visit www.bexar.org/elections.

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