SAN ANTONIO — You may notice more polling locations open in Bexar County during the November midterm election.
On Monday, a state district judge ordered county officials to add more polling places. Initially, 259 polling locations were proposed but after the judges ruling that number will go up by more than a hundred.
Joaquin Gonzalez is a senior supervising attorney with the Texas Civil Rights Project. Gonzalez said TCRP opened the lawsuit on behalf of the Texas Organizing Project also known as TOP.
TCRP argued Bexar County was violating the law by having too few polling locations. A judge presiding over the case agreed with TOP and granted a temporary injunction.
County officials will now have to operate 388 location to comply with the state's election code. Gonzalez said TCRP won a similar suit in 2020, which forced the county to reopen more voting locations. During that election cycle, 303 polling locations were opened as a result.
On Tuesday, Bexar County commissioners would not comment on the recent ruling. However, they still heard from members of TOP at commissioners court.
Members requested commissioners consider a polling site at the Bexar County Jail. TOP said 3/4 of the 4,000 people incarcerated are eligible voters and have to relay on mail in voting to cast their ballots.
However, members called the mailed ballots unreliable when delivered to and from the jail, and instead, would prefer they have the option to vote in person.
“This would not only ensure that eligible voters within the jail are able to participate in this upcoming election and vote on time but it would also mean the roughly 800 jail employees including 600 sheriff deputies would have access to vote on site making it more convenient for them to actually have the time to cast their ballots,” said Laquita Garcia of TOP.
According to the Houston Chronicle, there is only one Texas jail that allows inmates to vote in person and that's in Harris County.