A useful story for state and local governments.
Elections are a state matter, given to the local governments (counties) to run.
Relevant terms:
- Elections officials
- counties
- poll workers
- new requirements
- Legislature
- early voting.
- Local taxpayers
- Elections Administrator
- House Bill 1217.
- rural areas
- bipartisan support
- municipal elections
- constitutional amendment elections
- March primary
- November general elections
- election judges
- tax assessor
- voter registration
- election supplies and equipment
- Click here for the article.
Elections officials in some of Texas’ small counties, already strapped for resources, could face a shortage of poll workers in 2024 because of strenuous new requirements passed this year by the Legislature that force them to expand their hours and days for early voting.
The new law, authored by Rep. Valoree Swanson, a Republican from East Texas, requires all counties, regardless of population, to extend early-voting hours on weekdays and weekends. Large counties in the state already offered these extended hours, but now counties with populations of 55,000 or less must comply.
While the new law is intended to give voters in rural areas more convenience and opportunities to cast their ballots, the new requirements may be nearly impossible for some counties to pull off, election administrators told Votebeat. Local taxpayers will foot the bill for the extra costs, as the legislation provided very little additional funding.
In Llano County, a rural community northwest of Austin and home to Enchanted Rock State Park, Elections Administrator Andrea Wilson is worried she won’t find enough election workers to cover extended hours during early voting to comply with House Bill 1217.
During a legislative hearing on the bill in March, Swanson said her goal was to “make it better for our good people in rural areas.” Swanson, who represents a district in highly populous Harris County, said voters in rural areas may have to travel long distances to the polls, and the extended hours would give them more time to get there. The bill passed with bipartisan support. Swanson did not respond to a request for comment.
The number of required days and hours depends on the election. This November, when Texas is holding several municipal and constitutional amendment elections, the required hours are only slightly increased: The main early-voting location (typically the county courthouse or the elections office) must be open for 12 consecutive hours on the last two days of early voting — Thursday and Friday.
Next year, for the March primary and the November general elections, the main early voting location must be open for 12 hours every weekday during the last week of early voting. Additionally it must be open for 12 hours on the last Saturday and six hours on the last Sunday.
In small communities such as Llano County, which has just over 17,000 registered voters, the new mandates were “not well received” by longtime election workers who are older and physically would not be able to endure such schedules, Wilson said. Llano currently offers early voting from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Now some workers are considering not returning to work another election due to the new rules, said Wilson.
