Bexar County settles lawsuit, agrees to open 302 polling sites on Election Day

Bexar County Commissioners Court has settled on a revised list of 302 polling stations for the November election to settle a lawsuit filed by the Texas Organizing Project last month, the Express-News reports.

County commissioners held a special meeting Tuesday morning after a state district judge last week ruled that Bexar County must operate 388 Election Day voting sites.

However, the Texas Organizing Project, which also successfully sued Bexar County over the number of polling stations in 2020, agreed that 302 polling stations, the same number of sites as during the last election, was acceptable.

Initially, County Elections Administrator Jacque Callanen only planned on opening 267 sites on Nov. 8, arguing that during the last election, several underutilized polling stations saw only a couple of voters.

Callanen also argued during a September press conference that opening additional polling sites would be difficult due to ongoing staffing issues.

The approved list of polling sites includes a host of university campuses, including Our Lady of the Lake, Texas A&M San Antonio, St. Mary’s, and UTSA, the Express-News reports.

One polling site not included in the new list is the county jail, a site that voting rights activists had previously pushed for, since many inmates are still eligible to vote, according to the San Antonio Report.

Even so, Assistant District Attorney Larry Roberson told county commissioners there simply wasn’t enough time to figure out the logistics of opening a polling station at the county jail, according to the San Antonio Report.

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