Comal County Commissioners Approve Nov. 5 Election Results

November 19, 2024

cynthia jacua — Elections Coordinator Cynthia Jaqua presented official results from the Nov. 5 2024 General Election to County Judge Sherman Krause. Image courtesy of Cary Zayas/Comal County.

Comal County commissioners met today to “canvass” or officially approve the Nov. 5, 2024 General Election Results.

There were no surprises, as Election Coordinator Cynthia Jaqua presented data already confirmed by the Texas Secretary of State’s office.

However, she offered a bit of “trivia,” pointing out that 104,444 Comal County residents voted on Nov. 5, 72.36% of the county’s 143,783 registered voters.

By contrast, 89,216 or 76.87% of the county’s 116,067 total registered voters turned out for the Nov. 3, 2020 General Election.

“We have grown, haven’t we?” Jaqua said.

Event Details

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) predicts that the demand for power in Texas will double by 2030.

Before Winter Storm Uri in 2021, few people knew about or had heard of ERCOT. But since then, there have been frequent news reports about how the council continues to navigate the precarious balance between supply and demand.

In June 2024, ERCOT president and CEO Pablo Vegas told state lawmakers that power demand in Texas is growing even faster than expected. ERCOT had previously estimated overall capacity would need to grow from 85,000 to 110,000 Megawatts (MW) by 2030, but now nearly doubled that estimate to 150,000 MW.

Nov. 20, 2024, the League of Women Voters Comal Area will host Beth Garza, former ERCOT Deputy Director 2008-2014 and Director of the ERCOT Independent Market Monitor 2014-2019 to discuss solutions to Texas’ increasing energy demands. Garza is a renowned industry leader in electricity market design and is known for her ability to convey the most complicated nuances of electricity markets. The meeting at the Tye Preston Memorial Public Library, 16311 S. Access Rd., Canyon Lake, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. is free and open to the public.

Included in the discussion will be the intricacies of Texas’s power grid, its structure, challenges, and its role in ensuring a stable energy supply for the state. Texas market design and ideas for improvement, understanding and managing the supply mix combined with increasing demand. Do we need a new entity to be a distribution system operator, or could other utilities or ERCOT play that role? Why does Texas keep experiencing mass power outages, and are outages likely to continue?