St. Phillip’s High School junior Jeremiah Garza stands in front of Bexar County’s McCreless Library polling station on Oct. 25. Credit: Michael Karlis

Editor’s note: This story was corrected to update Garza’s official title: election clerk.

Even though Jeremiah Garza, 16, is too young to head to the polls this election season, he’s doing his part to make sure other people’s votes count.

The junior at San Antonio ISD’s St. Philip’s College Early College High School serves as an election clerk. In Texas, people who work in that volunteer position ensure the smooth operation of polling stations, set up voting equipment and verify voter eligibility.

“I just wanted to know how it works and the systems we have,” said Garza, who’s studying cybersecurity at St. Philip’s.

Before becoming an election clerk, Garza had some interest in politics but wasn’t familiar with the voting process. He wanted to learn more after a teacher introduced him to Heather Eichling, founder of Youth Do Vote, a nonpartisan group that gets high school and college students involved in the democratic process.

Garza’s work as an election clerk has been a hands-on experience.

“I’m expected to sign people in, ask for their IDs, scan their IDs, and I print out a paper for their voter ballot,” Garza said. “And I show them to the voting machine, and they put their ballot in, and it counts their vote.”

Tensions are high around this year’s closely watched election. A Bexar County poll worker was assaulted last week by a MAGA hat-wearing voter, and a recent poll found 62% of Americans think post-Election Day violence is “somewhat or very likely.”

However, Garza said he isn’t worried about extremists at the polls. Instead, he’s more concerned about the lack of enthusiasm among young voters.

“Kids right now aren’t really focused on the future,” he said. “They’re more focused on technology than their future country’s health. They’re only focused on online things. They’re not focused on the real world.”

Despite Garza’s belief that the youth aren’t enthusiastic about the upcoming election, data shows San Antonio residents have been showing up in droves to vote early. Nearly 315,300 people went to the polls in the first seven days of early voting. That’s nearly a quarter of all the county’s registered voters.

Eligible voters have until Nov. 1 to cast early ballots. Polling stations will reopen from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Election Day, Nov. 5. Residents can check whether they’re registered to vote, find polling locations and more by visiting the Bexar County Election Department’s website.

Garza said his work at the polls has inspired him to dig deeper into the political process after he graduates high school.

“I want to try and focus on politics,” he said. “I want to try and know what I can do, and I want to participate in future elections again.”

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This article appears in Oct 16-29, 2024.

Michael Karlis is a multimedia journalist at the San Antonio Current, whose coverage in print and on social media focuses on local and state politics. He is a graduate of American University in Washington,...