Karnes County staff reports strong early turnout, flags registration boundary issue

Karnes County staff reported strong early-voting turnout and described a handful of ballot rejections and provisional-voter issues during a Nov. 18 special meeting.

A county staff member told the meeting that early voting produced roughly 3,194 ballots and that 26 in-person ballots were cast as "limited" ballots (voters who had moved and were not yet registered locally, so they could vote only on races on their previous precinct’s ballot). The staff member said election-day ballots counted were 1,650 and that 255 mail-ballot voters were recorded; the transcript indicates a county total but the full total as read in the meeting was not clearly captured.

The staff member said seven mail ballots were rejected for procedural issues — incorrect carrier-envelope completion or an empty envelope — and that four provisional voters were rejected, yielding 11 rejected ballots in total as reported. The staff member also said that 280 mail ballots were mailed and 17 were not returned; that figure was said to include FPCA and military/overseas ballots.

The county official said the canvas report and a precinct-by-precinct cumulative report are available for review at the elections office; the canvas reportedly breaks turnout down by race and precinct and lists all races from president through local contests. The staff member invited officials and members of the public to inspect the precinct reports in the office.

Officials also identified a voter-registration boundary concern. The staff member said they found addresses that had been transferred to Wilson County and may have been registered there in error for some local races. To resolve the issue the staff member said they will obtain a street list and form a team with Wilson County election officials to verify registrations and correct any errors.

The meeting record shows a motion was made to authorize an item related to the office, but the transcript’s wording of that motion is garbled and the mover, seconder and outcome were not specified in the record provided. The meeting also acknowledged that the commission court will meet on Nov. 26 at 9 a.m. at the historic courthouse.

County staff said they logged operational issues (including equipment that needed retrieval during voting) and will use those logs to guide training and improve procedures for future elections.

The meeting’s public record includes references to county judge Susan B. (expected to sign later) and a staff member named Jim as points of contact for the registration review and related follow-up.