SAN ANTONIO – This week, Judge Martha Tanner ordered Bexar County to add a total of 129 voting locations in a matter of weeks ahead of the election in November.
According to the ruling, the locations should be determined and posted online by Oct. 18.
The judge’s decision came after a lawsuit was filed last week by the Texas Civil Rights Project, or TCRP. The nonprofit represents the plaintiff, Texas Organizing Project, or TOP.
The lawsuit, filed last week, was in response to the county’s decision to close more than 40 polling sites ahead of the midterm elections.
During the Bexar County Commissioners Court on Sept. 6, Elections Administrator Jacque Callanen presented the information.
“The number (of polling locations) that had been approved by the Bexar County Commissioners Court was 259,” said Alexis Bay, who works with TCRP. “This was a number that was proposed by the Bexar County Election Administration’s office, and it was a significantly lower number than the 302, 303 polling locations folks were used to in the 2020 and 2018 elections.”
Bexar County implemented countywide polling in 2019, which means voters can cast their ballot at any polling location. Under countywide polling, the Texas Election Code requires counties to operate 50% as many polling places as election precincts.
According to a press release from TCRP, “Because there are 776 election precincts, the Election Code requires Bexar County to operate 388 polling locations on Election Day.”
Judge Tanner ruled in favor of TCRP’s client, TOP.
“We were very overjoyed that Judge Tanner agreed with us and recognized the importance of why the numbers were not sufficient for Bexar County,” Bay said. “It’s a big county.”
This is the second time the nonprofit has sued the county.
“It’s important to remember, we actually had to sue Bexar County in 2020 for the exact same issue, and so, now we have two judicial orders,” Bay said.
KSAT 12 reached out to the Elections Department and county officials for an interview. However, both declined.
A spokesperson with the county replied with a statement that said, “We cannot comment on pending litigation.”
TCRP said the county could push back and appeal the injunction, citing funding.
“That was an argument that was made by the county in our hearing yesterday,” Bay said. “However, we provided evidence from one of the county commissioners’ meetings in which one county commissioner made it very clear that they do very much well fund the elections office, and they very well could keep funding and increase funding to be able to meet the need and demand of more polling locations.”
TCRP said it hopes the county will accept their help and not appeal the judicial order.
“It’ll be a real team effort between ourselves, our clients, other community groups, the commissioners’ court and the elections office in figuring out how to increase the polling locations to meet the community need,” Bay said.
According to the judge’s temporary injunction orders, “Defendants to solicit the input of persons or organizations representing minority voters in adopting its methodology for choosing countywide polling locations by holding at least one public hearing to which such persons or organizations are invited, as required by Texas Election Code Section 43.007(h).”
The additional polling locations must be staffed and ready to go by early voting, which begins Oct. 24.
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