Exceptionally low voter turnout in Burnet County
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Some governing bodies in Burnet County saw abysmal voter turnout in their recent local elections, with a small fraction of registered voters making big decisions in several cities and in the Burnet Consolidated Independent School District.
While local elections in May often have low turnouts according to data from the Burnet County Elections Office, the May 2, 2026 elections had exceptionally low voter participation. A notable exception was the city of Burnet, which nearly doubled its turnout from May 2025.
Even with improved numbers in the city of Burnet, overall turnout in the area is far lower than the national average for a regular mayoral election, which is around 20 percent according to the University of Chicago Center for Effective Government.
In some cases, relatively few voters made major decisions on behalf of their fellow residents. Proposition A in BCISD, amounting to $133 million in bonds for school district improvements, was effectively decided by 48 votes, passing 913 to 865. The race for Marble Falls City Council Place 3 was decided by 29 votes, with challenger Dave Rhodes defeating incumbent Lauren Haltom 172 votes to 143.
See the full results of the May 2 elections in the May 4 DailyTrib story “Local elections results: Burnet and Llano counties.”
Some numbers of note from the May 2, 2026 elections in Burnet County:
- Marble Falls City Council: 6.31 percent voter turnout, 316 voters out of 4,991 registered voters in Marble Falls
- Burnet City Council: 14.66 percent voter turnout, 637 voters out of 4,344 registered voters in Burnet
- Granite Shoals City Council: 6.14 percent voter turnout, 170 voters out of 2,766 registered voters in Granite Shoals
- BCISD bond election: 9.13 percent voter turnout, 1,778 voters out of 19,465 registered voters in BCISD
- Bertram City Council: 11.03 percent voter turnout, 152 voters out of 1,378 registered voters in Bertram
The May 2, 2026 numbers are mostly low, even by local standards. In the May 2025 elections, Marble Falls turnout was 16.26 percent, Burnet turnout was 7.71 percent, and Granite Shoals turnout was 13.79 percent. Bertram did not have an election in 2025, but in May 2024 the city only had 5.54 percent turnout.
“We don’t really see a lot of turnout with local (May) elections,” Interim Burnet County Elections Administrator Stephanie Ellis told DailyTrib. “A lot of people don’t know who the candidates are or who is on the city council.”
While turnout in local May elections can be low, the participation in state and federal elections held in November is often much higher. For example, the 2024 presidential election saw 73 percent voter turnout in Burnet County.
Ellis believes this disparity in turnout could be because people are generally more invested in federal or state elections.
“You would probably see more ballots and voters for their local elections (if they were held in November during general elections),” she said.