The Official Publication of the County Judges and Commissioners Association of Texas

Current Issue

Issue No. 90
February 2011

From the President

 

Greetings!  I hope we are all settling into the new year well and winding down from all the excitement the holidays bring.  If you are like most, and I am, the holidays have been good to us, and we see and feel that a little in our wasteline.  Oh well, we now have this new year to work it all off, hopefully get into better shape, and become more healthy doing it.

Well…seems for those who are up for re-election and for elections in general, this redistricting situation has sprung disappointment, frustration and confusion.  Not sure I fully understand it all myself.  Thank goodness for our general counsel, Jim Allison, along with the Conference of Urban Counties and the Texas Association of Counties who have been keeping up with the issue and have been sending out updates informing us of what has transpired.  A Joint Advisory has also been filed with the federal court.  A few weeks back, a conference call was conducted regarding the issues and concerns the redistricting process and plans have caused, and some 20 counties participated to share their concerns.  Below is a list of some timing concerns expressed by our elections administrators, which is included in the Joint Advisory:

·         After issuance of redistricting plans, one to three weeks are required to prepare election precinct boundaries for adoption by commissioners courts.  This time includes ensuring that there is an available polling place for each precinct. 

·         After approval of election precinct boundaries by commissioners courts, three to four weeks are required to update voter registration information to be able to print voter certificates and ballots.  While part of this delay is caused by the required DOJ pre-clearance, a minimum of two weeks is required due to the required manual entry of voter data into the voter registration system to account for the new precinct boundaries.

·         After updating voter registration information, two to three weeks are required to print voter certificates and ballots.  Once the precincts and candidates are set, counties generally need 10 days to two weeks for the ballot generation, proofing, review by the political parties, and equipment testing before ballots can be printed and mailed.  Counties that rely on a vendor to print their absentee ballots or program their voting equipment probably need three full weeks.

The maps finally issued by the court will determine the actual amount of time needed by

counties. If the final maps differ substantially from both the maps approved by the Texas Legislature and the maps previously ordered by the federal court, then counties impacted by those differences will require more time than set forth above. For that reason, counties are requesting that any election schedule ordered by the court at this time be contingent on final maps that are substantially similar to the maps approved by the Texas Legislature or the maps previously entered by the court.

Our county organizations are simply advocating for sufficient time in the adopted schedule for counties to physically be able to comply by conducting the elections.  Counties should not have to spend significant staff time and expense making changes to voter registration records and mailing voter registration certificates for election precincts that are ultimately rejected by the Department of Justice.

There are other facts, requests, and concerns that I have not included in this column, but I hope you have received and read the e-mails that have been sent to commissioners court members from Jim Allison and the other organizations listed above.  If you would like additional information, please contact us or speak to your elections administrator and/or county clerk.      And now, a little humor I came across regarding this issue: “Texas always strives to be the biggest and best; AND now, we’ve got the biggest ‘election mess’ since Chad got hung in Florida.  Dear Lord…just wake me up when it’s all over.”

                                                           

                                                                        Have a Blessed Day!

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Key Concept

 

KEY CONCEPT: Countywide Precincts

KEY QUESTION: What is a Countywide Precinct, and what are the eligibility requirements?

MAIN REFERENCE POINT:

Texas Election Code Section 43.007

TALKING POINTS:

1.      Countywide precincts, or vote centers, allow voters the option of voting at countywide polling places on Election Day instead of their assigned precinct polling locations. The countywide polling places pilot program was authorized by the 79th Legislature’s House Bill 758 and then reauthorized by the 80th Legislature’s House Bill 3105. House Bill 719 passed by the 81st Legislature made the program permanent. House Bill 2194 passed by the 82nd Legislature increased the number of counties able to participate.

 

2.      The law authorizes the Texas Secretary of State to select six counties with a population of 100,000 or more and three counties with a population of less than 100,000 to participate in each eligible election.

 

3.      Eligible counties may apply with the Secretary of State to use countywide polling places in the following elections:  the general election for state and county officers, elections taking place on the uniform election date in May, a constitutional amendment election, and a joint election when holding any of the aforementioned elections with a local political subdivision (i.e., city, school district, etc.). 

 

4.      Counties must meet several requirements including the following minimum conditions:

 

v  exclusive use of direct recording electronic (DRE) voting systems at all polling places;

v  implementation of a computerized voter registration list that allows instantaneous verification that a voter has not already voted at another polling place;

v  participation in a public hearing if the county has not been involved in one of the previous countywide election precinct programs. This public hearing is to inform and solicit opinions from voters, minority organizations, and other interested parties (e.g., political parties, political subdivisions within the county, and organizations representing voters with disabilities).  A transcript or electronic recording of the hearing must be submitted to the Secretary of State.  Although not required by statute, the Secretary of State has encouraged counties that have previously participated to conduct a new public hearing.

v  adoption of a methodology to determine the placement of the countywide polling places.  For an election held in the first year in which the county holds an election under the program, the total number of countywide polling places may not be less than 65 percent of the number of precinct polling places that would otherwise have been used in the last equivalent election.  For subsequent elections, this number drops to 50 percent.

5.      Counties selected to participate in the program must develop a communication plan for providing notice and informing voters of the program and of the changes made to the locations of Election Day polling places that will occur.  The county must solicit input from organizations that represent minority voters and voters with disabilities.  At a minimum, an Election Day notice indicating the location of the nearest countywide polling place must be posted at each precinct polling place that was used in the last general election for state and county officers but will not be used in the election under this program. 

6.      Each county that previously participated in a program is authorized to continue participation in the program for future elections if:

v  the commissioners court of the county approves participation in the program; and

v  the Secretary of State determines the county's participation in the program was successful.

For additional requirements and the proposed schedule for implementing countywide election precincts for the 2012 elections, please go to http://www.sos.state.tx.us/elections/laws/countywide-precincts-2012.shtml.

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Officials Mark Launch of Interstate 69