Cameron County commissioners unanimously approve canvass of May 3 special election

The Cameron County Commissioners Court unanimously approved an order canvassing returns from the May 3, 2025 special election during a brief special meeting on a Monday in May 2025.

County elections staff reported that 232,671 people were registered to vote and that 16,852 ballots were cast in the special election, a figure staff said represents about 7.24% of registered voters. “In favor of the proposition was 6,272; against 9,769; total votes cast of 16,041; 3 over votes and 808 under votes,” staff reported, and provided a precinct-by-precinct breakdown in the commissioners’ meeting packets for review.

The canvass is the formal step the court took to certify the county’s tabulation of the special election. County staff told the court they completed an official reconciliation and found no discrepancy between the number of votes, voters and ballots. Staff attributed that result in part to the “implementation of the ballot on demand and the use of the DS 3 hundreds, during early vote,” saying that process reduced the opportunity for duplicate paper ballots and centralized counting of machine-processed ballots.

Commissioner Gazzetta moved to approve the order canvassing the election returns; Commissioner Lopez seconded. The court took a voice vote; all members present answered “Aye” and the motion carried.

A county official told the court that next week the individual jurisdictions will canvass results from their own elections and that this session canvassed the county-level portion of the May 3 returns. The packets distributed to commissioners contained the precinct-by-precinct breakdown and the canvass order prepared for the judge’s signature.

There were no public comments recorded on the item during the meeting.