SAN ANTONIO — Carlos Gonzalez loves seeing San Antonians get out and vote early. 

“Hey sir, can you invite five more people to vote early here?” Gonzalez asked a voter. 

It was a favor he asked voters for when they walked out of the Frank Garrett Multi-Service Center on San Antonio’s West Side. Every morning during early voting, Gonzalez set up a table in front of Frank Garrett and thanked voters. 

“We’ve had several curbside voters the last two days,” Gonzalez said on the third day of early voting. “As everyone leaves, besides thanking them, we ask them to call 10 of their family and friends and let them know there’s early voting (here).” 

Bexar County set a record for early voting turnout on the first day. With that came long lines and even longer wait times across San Antonio — some waited as long as an hour and a half. 

It was calm at Frank Garrett. 

“Just a quick in and out,” one voter told Gonzalez. 

Gonzalez says it’s because this is only the second time Frank Garrett has been an early voting site. He says it’s temporary because another site is under construction. 

“We are going to lobby for that as a neighborhood association,” Gonzalez said. “We would like to lobby for Frank Garrett Community Center to always be one of those early voting sites.” 

This community center has a special place in his heart. It’s where he first voted nearly 50 years ago. 

“I voted at the Frank Garrett Center for the very first time — I was a freshman at Our Lady of the Lake University — for Jimmy Carter’s election,” Gonzalez said. 

Gonzalez says getting a permanent early voting site is just one of the battles. The other is educating folks to research local ballot items such as charter amendments, bonds and state representatives. 

“We got to lift each other up, work together,” Gonzalez said. “There are not that many public resources. We can’t just be spending money frivolously. It’s got to go to well-intended projects.” 

He says it starts at the polls. Frank Garrett had the lowest turnout in Bexar County on the first day of early but saw a steady increase. 

“We had people from all over the place vote here and we want to keep that so that people understand it’s a friendly place, it’s a good place to vote,” Gonzalez said. 

Part of the success is Gonzalez’s persistence to get this barrio to come out and vote.