Since changing a longtime elections chief final 12 months, Bexar County has spent large upgrading the county’s election expertise.
It’s bought extra voting machines, changed getting old tabulation gear, added new gadgets to help individuals with disabilities and overhauled its web site to ship outcomes and assist voters discover the shortest strains.
Now as a high-profile Nov. 3 midterm election approaches, Elections Administrator Michele Carew says voters will begin to discover among the enhancements, whereas others gained’t be up and operating in time for this election.
Maybe most notably, Bexar County’s plan to modify to a brand new voter registration system — supposed to chop ties from a problematic state-run system — gained’t occur till January.
“We’re wanting to construct voter confidence, however TEAM has destroyed the voter confidence that’s in place,” Carew mentioned of the state’s voter registration system.
The TEAM system induced a large registration backlog final 12 months that left voters with no new voter registration card earlier than the March major.
Carew mentioned in an Aug. 24 interview that it nonetheless struggles to current correct info to voters monitoring their poll — sowing mistrust in a system that’s producing honest elections.
“Despite the fact that we present that we acquired an utility, we mailed them a poll, the poll got here again, and the poll was counted, it’s not mirrored in TEAM,” Carew mentioned.
The change to a brand new system was delayed as a consequence of a sluggish county buying procedures and delays transferring knowledge.
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Nonetheless, Bexar County voters who’ve skilled lengthy strains on the polls and delays in studying the outcomes might see some enchancment this 12 months.
Bexar County will likely be working 20% extra ballot pads to verify voters in for this November’s election, Carew mentioned, thanks partly to a $4 million grant from the Assist America Vote Act.
That ought to transfer strains quicker, although the county gained’t see a significant uptick within the variety of polling areas, as a result of the division nonetheless lacks the employees and gear to open them.
Voters must also be capable of verify wait instances on-line earlier than heading to vote — amongst many different upgrades geared toward updating Bexar County’s antiquated election procedures earlier than a high-profile U.S. Senate race, governor’s race and different contests on the Nov. 3 poll.
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The San Antonio Report caught up with Carew to speak about all of her modernization efforts, her expertise with a troubled voter registration system, and what voters ought to count on in a high-profile midterm election.
This dialog has been flippantly edited for readability and size.
Earlier than you arrived in 2025, a lot of the dialog surrounding Bexar County elections was in regards to the variety of ballot websites. Former Elections Administrator Jacque Callanen was sued a number of instances for working too few areas, and elected leaders made clear they wished the subsequent elections administrator to be extra proactive in increasing voting entry. The place do issues stand as we speak?
At present, we’ve got 301 [Election Day polling locations] that we’ve got verified can be found [for the Nov. 3 election]. We do have some faculty districts which might be beginning to come again round saying, ‘Hey, we’re obtainable,’ nevertheless it’s a matter of what number of machines we’ve got.”
Is 301 sufficient? Voting rights advocates who sued the county previously mentioned it must be working 388 polling areas, or half the variety of voter precincts.
That’s what they have been demanding, however once I got here into this place, I did attain out to the Secretary of State about it, and [they said it’s] 50% of the variety of precincts you had beforehand had open. So 285 is what’s legally required.
Though there have been the 776 voter precincts [in Bexar County], the county by no means had that many [voting locations] open. So after we went to vote facilities [which allow people to cast a ballot at any location, instead of just their precinct] it was 50% of the very best variety of areas they’d open.
What the general public wants to understand is that we’re in compliance with the state, and never solely that, however we’re opening up [more locations than] the final election.
In the course of the major we solely had 287 … now we’re probably 302.
What would it not take to open extra?
Extra gear and employees. Not simply in my workplace, but in addition on the polls. Discovering judges and clerks is big. It’s considered one of our largest obstacles, discovering the people who find themselves keen to work, as a result of the times are lengthy.
You’ve labored on elections for a few years now, each as an administrator, and as a vendor for election expertise. Discuss among the upgrades Bexar County has made because you arrived about 18 months in the past, and the way it may form the voting expertise on this election.
I used to be in a position to buy further ballot pads, in order that on the busier areas, we can provide them extra voting gear and extra check-ins to assist forestall lengthy strains.
Every ballot pad wants a printer, so I bought about $352,000 price of poll printers, [and] curbside carts for our ADA accessibility. We spent $403,500 on curbside gear to assist improve our curbside procedures.
We additionally upgraded our tabulation gear. As you bear in mind within the earlier election, individuals felt that the numbers weren’t popping out quick, and a part of the difficulty was that the tabulation gear takes an image of each single poll that’s ever forged, so we had seven years price of ballots on there.
We purchased new USBs, that are the thumb drives used to carry and report ballots as they’re forged … We purchased 65 DS300 [tabulators] for early voting. It’s similar to the DS200, however quicker, extra environment friendly. Since [early voting] is the place our largest turnout is, we invested there.
We additionally bought two DS950s, that are for [counting mail ballots]. They’re quicker, extra environment friendly. A number of instances when the ballots are being learn, they will jam up, and this doesn’t jam.
Now we have the brand new election night time reporting system that’s [been online for the past few elections]. Quite than only a scanned-in picture of a report, we’ve got an precise software program system.
We’re additionally getting a brand new web site with a wait-time characteristic for this election.
Let’s say it’s 6:45 p.m. on the final day to early vote, individuals [will be able to] go to our web site, see the place the longest strains are, and if there’s one thing near them that provides them the chance to only stroll out and in, after which they’ll be capable of discover it.
We’ve additionally enhanced our capacity to speak with our election employees by implementing a ballot employee portal, which permits us to e mail and textual content and sustain with messages that we ship forwards and backwards, together with assignments, notices of trainings, and in addition their writs of election.
So issues are altering, just a little bit at a time.
A number of the individuals which were round for a very long time, election judges and clerks, they’re actually combating that as a result of they have been used to it a sure method. However we’re simply attempting to reinforce the voting course of.
One of many largest investments the county is making is a personal voter registration system, VR Programs, which wasn’t on that listing. Many massive Texas counties used a personal firm that went out of enterprise months earlier than the November election in 2025, after which rapidly needed to migrate to the state’s TEAM system final 12 months, which had a variety of points. What’s happening with that transition?
As soon as we’re in full-time election mode, they will’t be fiddling round in our voter registration system, so we put it on maintain.
We’re on observe with VR programs, and we must be reside with them on the finish of January.
The Secretary of State’s workplace mentioned the TEAM issues have been brought on by so many counties coming on-line on the final minute, when the system was additionally present process a significant replace. Is there an opportunity Bexar County now not wants to maneuver to a personal vendor, and will keep on with the free system the state offers?
TEAM is what it’s, however it’s not prepared for an additional massive county.
Let’s simply return to final 12 months’s [voter registration] backlog, we had purposes that have been coming in 1,000 per day. In our earlier system, it will do the method for you, after which offer you an inventory of some that you simply wanted to assessment. Now we’ve got to take a look at each single one, one after the other, so that’s enormous for us.
In our ballot-by-mail system, there have been some complaints from voters that they’re not in a position to observe their poll.
We’ve found the knowledge we’re placing into TEAM is there for a interval after which it’s gone. We don’t know who deleted it, or why it’s not there. Despite the fact that we present that we acquired an utility, we mailed them a poll, the poll got here again, and the poll was counted, it’s not mirrored in TEAM.
Within the earlier model, TEAM 1.0, you could possibly replace a number of [mail ballot statuses] — like 25 to 50 ballots at a time. You possibly can simply scan the barcodes, present that you simply acquired them and that they have been counted. Now it’s a must to go into every particular person profile.
So, the automations simply aren’t there. Will they ultimately get there? Possibly.
However we’ve had a mess of bother tickets that we’ve despatched over, which were shared with Civics, the creator of TEAM, which might be nonetheless unanswered, and a few of them are three, 4, or 5 months outdated.
What’s weighing on you essentially the most headed into this midterm election?
There’s rather a lot that weighs on me. There’s no such factor as an ideal election. However is there a clear, exact, sincere, election? Sure.
So our objectives, on daily basis, are to offer that to our voters. We wish them to get what they deserve: a clear, honest, sincere, and correct election.
That’s the place a few of our obstacles with TEAM are available. We’re wanting to construct voter confidence, however TEAM has destroyed the voter confidence that’s in place.
That’s a robust assertion.
I don’t need to discuss unhealthy about TEAM, as a result of I respect the Secretary of State’s workplace. They’re the spine to the whole state, and so they have rather a lot that’s weighing on them. However we’d like a system that’s going to work for Bexar County.
Texas simply skilled some turnover in that position, and voting rights advocates have been very involved about who Gov. Greg Abbott may select. How are issues going with new Secretary of State Robert Howden?
We met him at a convention a pair weeks in the past. It was very nice. He looks as if he’s thinking about figuring out what’s happening within the election world. There have been a pair instances that we went to the Secretary of State convention, and the earlier Secretary of State didn’t even present up. She simply despatched a video.
It’s essential to us that we all know that we’re being supported. I’m not saying that we weren’t, with the earlier Secretary of State. They’ve rather a lot happening, however simply placing just a little bit extra give attention to the elections retains us feeling assured in what we do, and offering us with the assist we’d like. I do know that we get that from their authorized division and from their TEAM division.
You talked about at Commissioners’ Courtroom final month that prime voter turnout projections this November may very well be overblown. Texas noticed some unusually excessive turnout within the March major, motivated largely by the U.S. Senate race. Why do you assume the overall election may be completely different?
I wasn’t right here previously elections, however there are individuals on this division which were right here upwards of 30 years, and others which were right here for greater than 10. All of us acquired collectively and talked about what to anticipate on this upcoming election, and a variety of them simply really feel like possibly we’re over-planning.
We need to be ready, so we’re going to offer further areas. We’re going to offer skilled election clerks to have the ability to perceive their roles.
We’re additionally offering them with emergency preparedness, in order that they know what to do in case there’s an emergency. As a result of there’s worry on the market about polling areas, whether or not or not it’s a voter or a employee.
Simply primarily based upon the conversations I’ve had with individuals who have been right here a very long time, it feels as if we’re planning for a extremely massive election, and there may not be one. However I’d moderately be over-prepared than not ready in any respect.
Ought to voters count on lengthy strains?
We all know the polls will not be going to shut at 7 p.m. There are going to be lengthy strains, similar to within the major. [Polls will technically close at their regularly scheduled time, but voters who are standing in line then are still legally allowed to cast a ballot.]
For early voting within the major, we had virtually 2,600 individuals vote after 7 p.m. On Election Day, we had 4,200 individuals vote after 7 p.m.
What would it not take to repair that?
Including polling gear on the busiest websites, and offering extra assist to our election judges and clerks. In the event that they’re calling saying, “Hey, we’ve acquired individuals which were in line for prolonged intervals of time,” then we all know we have to ship out extra voting gear to them.
Is it too late to get extra voting machines for this election?
The procurement course of is strong right here in Bexar County, plus I’d must get along with our vendor, and the seller doesn’t at all times have that many in inventory.
Elections directors throughout Texas have confronted a fairly excessive burnout, and also you’ve endured your justifiable share of criticism since coming into this position. Any regrets?
I don’t have any regrets. In an effort to be in elections, it’s a must to be just a little loopy, so I really feel like I match proper in.
