By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
More than a quarter of the county’s registered voters have already cast their ballots in the
Nov. 5 General Election, says Val Verde County Clerk Teresa Esther Chapoy.
Early voting by personal appearance began Monday, Oct. 21, in the Red Oak Ballroom at
the Del Rio Civic Center, 1915 Veterans Blvd., and will continue until 5 p.m. on Friday,
Nov. 1.
Registered voters in all county voting precincts and city districts may cast their early
ballots at the civic center.
Early voting will continue at the civic center from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 30;
Thursday, Oct. 31; and Friday, Nov. 1.
Registered voters who don’t cast early ballot will still have one more chance to vote: on
Tuesday, Nov. 5, Election Day.
Chapoy told The 830 Times today 25.9 percent of the county’s total 30,119 registered
voters have already cast their ballots.
“This number does not include all the provisional or limited or presidential ballots that
went into the ballot boxes and are sealed, to be opened on Election Day by the early
voting ballot board,” Chapoy said in a text this morning.
Chapoy has also released the number of persons who voted early by personal appearance
for each day of the early voting period. Those numbers are as follows:
• Monday, Oct. 21 – 1,346
• Tuesday, Oct. 22 – 1,098
• Wednesday, Oct. 23 – 855
• Thursday, Oct. 24 – 836
• Friday, Oct. 25 – 945
• Saturday, Oct. 26 – 994
• Sunday, Oct. 27 – 404
• Monday, Oct. 28 – 752
Chapoy also spoke about the early voting with The 830 Times in an interview on
Saturday.
“I think it’s going really great. We’ve had a really good turnout, and it’s steady, even
when it slows down, but a lot of people are coming out to vote, and everybody seems to
be eager to vote,” Chapoy said.
Chapoy said she has not yet had a chance to compare the early voting numbers this year
with the early voting numbers from previous elections.
“I have not had a chance to review the numbers. I know that on the first day (of early
voting by personal appearance) we were short of what we had in 2020, and this being a
presidential election year, I thought there would be more,” she said.
Chapoy added, “The numbers that we’re showing (at the end of every day) are actual
people who come to vote in person, and a lot of these people who are showing up to vote
are actually voting provisional or limited ballots, and they’re actually persons who came and showed up to vote, but they aren’t counted in those numbers. I don’t know exactly
how many.”
She said the provisional and limited ballots will be reviewed by the early voting ballot
board on Election Day.
“We cannot open (those ballots) or do anything with them until Election Day,” Chapoy
said.
Asked if there had been any challenges or issues so far, Chapoy said, “Only that
sometimes some people think they’ve registered to vote, and they hadn’t really registered.
It would be best if people checked to make sure they are registered to vote before they
come (to vote).”
Chapoy noted prospective voters can check to see if they are registered by visiting the
Texas Secretary of State’s web site.
“Or they can call us at the county clerk’s office, and we will check for them,” Chapoy
said.
Prospective voters can call the county clerk’s office at 830-774-7564.
The county clerk’s web site includes a link for Val Verde County residents to check if
they are registered: https://teamrv-mvp.sos.texas.gov/MVP/back2HomePage.do
The 830 Times also asked Chapoy about concerns in other Texas counties and U.S. states
about the integrity and fairness of the election process.
In response, Chapoy said, “The safety, the security, the purity of the election here is very
well-protected. All of our machines were checked, all of the marking devices – they’re
called ExpressVotes from the ESS company – are certified by the Texas Secretary of
State, and all that those machines do is mark the ballot, and that goes into the DS200
(machine) that actually tabulates the numbers, but that goes into a USB drive, which is
not looked at until the end of early voting.”
Chapoy said she is “definitely, definitely comfortable” with the purity of the election in
Val Verde County.
Asked if there was anything else she would like to say to the county’s voters, Chapoy
said, “Come out and vote. Make sure you’ve registered. Bring a photo ID; a driver’s license
works great, and we’re looking forward to seeing all of the people in Val Verde County
who have registered to vote.”
The writer can be at delriomagnoliafan@gmail.com
