Less than three months out from the March primary, Bexar County leaders are still trying to decide whether Elections Administrator Jacquelyn Callanen should stay on through the 2024 presidential election.
Callanen has held the role since 2005 and is regarded by supporters as a steady hand amid increasing scrutiny of elections officials nationwide.
Among critics, however, she has been a longstanding obstacle to engaging new voters and providing the voter education efforts happening in other major counties. Callanen has been ordered by a judge to operate more voting locations than initially planned twice in the past four years.
“My intent is to have a candid and frank conversation with Jacque, and to determine what her plans are personally, what succession plans she has on file … and how she can address the constructive criticism that has been aired,” Bexar County Judge Peter Sakai told the San Antonio Report on Wednesday. “There is nothing definite or concrete” in regards to her future.
Members of the Commissioners Court generally agree they want an elections administrator who will do more to expand voting access. But state law gives the power to hire an elections administrator to a commission made up of the county judge, county clerk, tax assessor-collector and the two county party chairs.
That dynamic made convening the elections commission unappealing to Sakai’s predecessor, Nelson Wolff, whose two-decade tenure came to an end last year.
On Wednesday, Sakai said he’d been listening to the feedback about Callanen and seeking input from members of the Commissioners Court. He plans to meet with Callanen later this month.
“I think that Jacque is entitled, at the very minimum, to what we call due process, which means I need to listen to both sides and then make my own decision,” Sakai said.
Callanen previously said 2020 would be her last presidential election, but lately has avoided answering whether she intends to stick to that.
Sakai said he first needs to see if Callanen wants to stay on through 2024. If she does, Sakai said, he wants assurances some of the problems will be addressed.
“I want the Elections Department to stay out of the courts,” he said.
A rare opportunity
For voting rights advocates, the 2024 presidential election is an opportunity to engage new voters they hope will turn out again in future midterms and municipal elections.
If Sakai decides not to convene the elections commission, Callanen’s critics plan to appeal to other members of the commission. Lucy Adame-Clark, the county clerk, serves as vice chair and also has the authority to call a meeting, as do any three members combined.
A majority vote is required to appoint a new elections administrator.
“It’s past time to begin the search for a new elections administrator who is going to focus on customer service,” said Valerie Reiffert, executive director of Radical Registrars, a nonprofit aimed at voter registration and education.
Last month, volunteer deputy registrars came to Commissioners Court with stories describing how Callanen was hurting their work and actively running off people who volunteer their time helping others register to vote.
Cris Boneta, an organizer for the Latino voting organization Jolt Initiative, said the Elections Department had threatened to revoke his registration certification over minor complaints like poor handwriting.
Reiffert said Bexar County has seen a 22% decrease in volunteer deputy registrars since 2021. It currently has about a third as many people certified to help register voters as Travis County and Dallas County headed into the 2024 election, she said.
Callanen’s supporters say her caution is needed at a time when the state has shown increased appetite for cracking down on elections departments that step out of line.
“She has pulled us through COVID. … She knows what she’s doing. … She follows each and every rule,” said Rose Marie De Hoyos, who serves as primary manager for the Bexar County Democratic Party, to commissioners. “This is a very important election coming up. … Do you really want to change now?”
Leaders from the Texas Civil Rights Project (TCRP), which successfully sued the county for more voting locations in 2020 and 2022, disagree.
TCRP Voting Rights Outreach Coordinator Taylor Treviño told commissioners that just last month, Callanen broke state law by failing to post the voting locations online in time for the election on state constitutional amendments. That caused confusion for voters trying to make plans to get to the polls, but who were directed to check back later, almost a week after the locations were supposed to be posted.
“We shouldn’t have to wonder when our [elections administrator] is going to run an election in which she doesn’t break the law,” Treviño said.
