SAN ANTONIO — The Bexar County Elections Office is scurrying not only to add more polling sites, but to find enough people to man them.
With less than three weeks to go until Election Day, the local elections administrator also said staff is dealing with more rude phone calls from frustrated voters.
Jacque Callanen said most are upset because of not receiving their mail-in ballot. She said she has given her staff new direction on what to do, if they are in that situation.
"I told them to say I don't deserve to be spoke to like this I am ending the call. Who would have thought," she said.
Callanen said this midterm feels like a presidential election. The county does need to have 302 voting locations. It originally was striving for nearly 270.
"The staff is scurrying," she said.
Callanen said they're finalizing the sites and are working on recruiting and training staff.
"It is getting close," she said. "We are almost there."
As far as staffing goes, Callanen said there is a rule when it comes to the polling location.
"No site will be open with all new personnel," she said. "We have to make sure we have someone who are worked the elections before."
She didn't say the amount of staff still needed. Meanwhile, scrambling to add more locations is stress on top of stress.
"It has taken some focus off of where we should be working," she said.
Early voting starts Monday. The county will have more early voting centers than before, it will 51 locations. Four school districts have declared Election Day as a holiday including Northside, Northeast, East Central and Southwest. This will allow voters to cast ballots at campus sites with no students there.
The county expects 650,000 to 700,000 voters this go-round.