Still the only voter ID anyone should need
Bexar County is once again processing new voter registrations, after a months-long delay caused a backlog of 52,000 registrations to wait in limbo.
Early voting starts Oct. 20 for the Nov. 4 election.
Elections Administrator Michele Carew told reporters Monday that all outstanding applications will be processed before then, and new voters should receive their registration card in the mail before Election Day.
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While most of the state has little on its ballot this November, Bexar County is voting on a pair of big-ticket ballot initiatives, Props. A and B, that could decide the future of a new downtown Spurs arena and East Side rodeo grounds.
It also had one the biggest backlogs of unprocessed registrations among the counties rolling over, according to Votebeat.
Carew said Monday that she didn’t see any evidence Props. A and B were drawing a rush of new voter interest.
Rather, a normal amount of new registrations stacked up into a big backlog because the state system had stopped accepting them for its TEAM update, and then weeks later, Votec also went down.
“There was a time period where nobody was allowed to put in any type of voter registration to the system,” Carew said. “That snowballed with Votec closing, and that’s when we had to completely halt.”
Texas election officials were all in Austin for a conference right after the Votec news, Carew said, and immediately began huddling with the Secretary of State’s office on a plan for this November.
Bexar County will use the free TEAM system this election, then transfer to a new private vendor, VR Systems, which has some additional features.
Though local leaders have gone to great lengths to avoid using state’s system in the past, Bexar County Judge Peter Sakai said that in this case, they’re lucky for the state’s help.
“They have been engaged, responsive and supportive throughout this process,” he said.
See here for more on the Bexar issues, and here for more on similar problems at the state level. I’m glad to hear that this is getting resolved, and that the state was a good partner in doing so. A low bar to clear, but we take nothing for granted these days. I hope the new system Bexar County implements has fewer problems than the old one.
Has there been any reporting on Harris County, also a VOTEC client?