Early voting closes with a surge

Editor’s Note: For final vote tallies after Nov. 4, keep checking our website and see the Nov. 8-9, 2025, edition of the Star for more details.

Nearly 5,000 Kendall County residents cast early votes for Tuesday’s general election, with the Boerne Independent School District’s Voter Approval Tax Rate Election (VATRE) seen as the big draw. 

Final election results were posted Tuesday night after polls closed at 7 p.m. Nov. 4. In addition to local issues on the ballot, Texans were asked to decide on 17 state constitutional amendments. 

A total of 4,982 Kendall County residents cast ballots early, 12.6% of the county’s eligible 39,520 registered voters, according to officials.  

Staci Decker, Kendall County elections administrator, said she expected 75% to 80% of votes to be cast in early voting prior to Tuesday, although she said she has noticed a trend shifting back toward more Election Day voting turnout. 

Early voting started Oct. 20 and continued through Oct. 31.  

Political analysts said “waiting until the last minute” seemed to be the prevailing emotion, as 843 residents flocked to the polls on Oct. 31 — nearly 170 more votes were cast than on Oct. 30, the second-highest total, when 676 votes were cast. 

The first week of voting, Oct. 20-25, saw 2,017 registered voters make their choice, while another 2,965 went to the polls in week two, Oct. 27-31. 

Highs in week one were 436 on Oct. 24 and 387 on Oct. 22; highs on week two were the Oct. 31 and Oct. 30 counts.  

The lowest turnout occurred on Saturday, Oct. 25, when 160 voters cast ballots. 

In 2023, the last election involving only Texas constitutional amendments, 7,854 countywide votes were tabulated, accounting for 21.1% of registered voters.