A state district judge on Monday ordered Bexar County to increase the number of voting locations for the Nov. 8 midterm election.
The move follows similar requests to the Bexar County Elections Department from county commissioners and voting rights advocates. Elections Administrator Jacque Callanen has maintained additional polling places aren’t needed.
The Texas Civil Rights Project, which sued county commissioners on behalf of the Texas Organizing Project, won a similar lawsuit in 2020 that forced the county to restore voting locations it planned to close just days out from the start of early voting.
This time, because early voting is still two weeks away, beginning Oct. 24, the court is asking Bexar County to open 388 Election Day voting locations, up from 302 locations in 2020.
“We should not have to sue Bexar County every election cycle to force compliance with the law, but nonetheless we will continue to hold Bexar County — and counties across Texas — accountable so that every voter is able to cast their ballot this November,” said Joaquin Gonzalez, a lawyer for the Texas Civil Rights Project who led both cases.
Callanen had planned to reduce the number of locations for the coming November election from the 302 polling places for the 2020 presidential election to 258. She sought to eliminate the least-used locations and and instead focus resources on the ones that see the most traffic, as both local political parties have struggled to find poll workers leading up to the election.
Voters in Bexar County can choose to cast their vote at any polling place, known as voting centers, in the county.
Callanen’s office did not respond to a voicemail requesting comment Monday.
The idea of reducing some locations initially had support from Democrats and Republicans on the Bexar County Elections Board, who agreed to the idea of closing some of the less-used locations to solve staffing issues.
When presented with a list of the ones that would be closed however, Democrats said the move would disproportionately affect precincts that support their party’s candidates, as well as students and people of color.
Monday’s ruling from Judge Martha Tanner says the “defendants imminently stand to violate Texas Election Code Section” by planning to operate too few voting locations. The law calls for voting locations in at least half of the county’s 776 election precincts, unless the proper process has been followed to combine locations.
Tanner ordered the county 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.”
The locations should be determined and posted online by Oct. 18, according to the ruling.
Voting rights advocates warned Callanen that they would sue if she didn’t keep at least the same number of voting locations as the county had used in 2020. County commissioners approved her initial list of locations, but added money to their budget to fund more, and directed her to come back with a list of additional locations.
