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Bexar County Elections Administrator Michele Carew has announced the elections department will receive $4 million in federal funds from the Help America Vote Act.
“They originally offered $86,000. I am delighted that we will receive $4 million as it will allow us to expand our voting locations and also to purchase more poll pads,” Carew said.
Those poll pads allow election workers to process more voters at a time, reducing wait times.
Carew told the Bexar County Elections Commission about the fund allocation at their Nov. 20. meeting.
The commission also received a briefing on elections in general from the elections administrator.
Carew told the commission she decided to delay sharing early voting results when the polls closed because more than 3,200 people were still waiting in line to cast their votes. Her decision was permissible under Texas Election Code.
Commission members praised her staff’s work to clear a voter registration backlog well ahead of the Nov. 4 election. The backlog was caused by computer issues with the Texas Secretary of State's Office.
Bexar County Judge Peter Sakai, Bexar County Clerk Lucy Adame-Clark, Bexar County Tax Assessor-Collector Albert Uresti, Bexar County Democratic Party Chair Michelle Lowe Solis and Bexar County Republican County Chair Kris Coons all sit on the elections commission.
