(Seguin) — The numbers are showing that Guadalupe County voters turned out in strong numbers for the November 3 election, with half of all registered voters casting a ballot. That’s according to Teresa Kiel, Guadalupe County Clerk. Kiel, who is also in charge of elections and operations, today is providing her recap of the Nov. 3 General Election.
Before diving into those numbers, Kiel first explained a few equipment problems that slowed the process but did not prevent the final vote-counting.
“We had some challenges of equipment. Some screens needed to be recalibrated, and we had some equipment failures, but we were able to get those back up and going,” said Kiel. “So it did kind of slow things down on Election Day, but I believe everybody was helped and got to vote that needed to vote or wanted to vote.”
The bigger challenge, however, came later that evening as election workers worked to finalize the results. Kiel says the office was making good progress and initially expected to have everything ready for the release of those early voting numbers — wrapped up around 7 p.m.
“It was counting ballots, not tabulating them, but counting a number of ballots so that it was saving the tabulation,” said Kiel. “But it kept jamming on us, and we had to re-tabulate about 2,000 or resend 2,000 ballots back through the machine.”
She says the equipment problems continued throughout the evening, eventually requiring election workers to use a smaller machine to process some remaining ballots.
“We got our numbers to the Secretary of State by about 3:30 in the morning (Wednesday) and got them confirmed, and all was good with them,” said Kiel.
Kiel added that the equipment was purchased in 2019 and believes it may already be time for the county to begin looking at replacement options.
Despite the challenges, Kiel says the county’s voter turnout made Tuesday’s election especially memorable.
“As of Election Night, Guadalupe County had 143,386 registered voters in Guadalupe County. We had 71,699 voters come out to vote or vote absentee and that equates to a total of 50 percent even on the dot. It’s crazy. It was so exciting to have so many voters come out and vote,” said Kiel.
She noted that the final number could increase just slightly as a few remaining mail-in ballots and overseas ballots are received and processed.
The 50 percent turnout also put this year’s election ahead of the county’s 2022 gubernatorial election, when 57,419 voters participated out of approximately 120,000 registered voters, resulting in a 47.82 percent turnout.
The county reported a higher turnout during the 2024 presidential election, when 85,606 voters cast ballots, representing approximately 65 percent of registered voters at the time. However, the number of registered voters in 2024 was not as high as it is today.
Kiel says the the voter registration roll continues to grow, with approximately 23,000 more registered voters than in 2022 and nearly 12,000 more than in 2024.
While the numbers are important, Kiel says she believes the candidates and issues on the ballot played a major role in bringing voters to the polls.
“I think it was more importantly the people on the ballot. People were concerned about our country, and they wanted their voices heard,” said Kiel.
With the election now behind them, Kiel also took time to recognize the election workers and residents who helped make the process possible.
“I just want to thank everyone for coming out and vote. I want to thank everybody for their patience,” said Kiel. “We were trying our best, the best that we could, to get everybody out, you know, polling location, and get them the information they needed. It was just a really rough day, but we got it done, and we’re extremely happy with the results of (the election process).”
Residents looking to get involved in the next election cycle are encouraged to register to vote year-round. The Guadalupe County Elections Office is located at 3251 N. State Highway 123.