Bexar County officers say as much as 80% of voter registration backlog may very well be processed by week’s finish

Bexar County officers at a Monday afternoon press convention mentioned the county now has entry to the state’s voter registration system and 75%-80% of its unprocessed voter registrations might be accomplished by the top of this week.

Bexar County Choose Peter Sakai and Elections Administrator Michele Carew used the occasion to guarantee the general public that all the county’s 52,000 unprocessed voter registrations might be processed in time for October’s Early Voting now that county elections employees has entry to the Secretary of State’s TEAM system.

“As of this previous weekend, Bexar County has gone stay with the Secretary of State TEAM system,” Sakai mentioned. “Bexar County, along with the Secretary of State, is transferring decisively to make sure that each eligible Bexar County resident who submits a well timed registration software will have the ability to vote this November.”

Bexar County elections employees had been in a holding sample whereas the voter registration functions continued to pile up. County personnel have been unable to course of voter registration since way back to July 2, in accordance with Carew. However the wait is lastly over.

“My workforce has been working all day kickstarting the backlog of functions, and it’s going very properly,” she mentioned.

Most of these backlogged voter registration functions come from the Division of Public Security, Carew mentioned. Meaning they’re digital information already within the TEAM system, which solely require Bexar County employees to confirm every voter’s data to course of. Every of these information might take anyplace from just a few seconds to some minutes, Carew added.

“Based mostly on the speed we’ve been capable of course of, we’re taking a look at being profitable this week, and having the ability to course of 75%-80% by the top of this week” she added.

The backlog was additional compounded by the county’s prior voter registration system Votech going out of enterprise in August. Carew had already determined to not renew the contract, nonetheless, which was scheduled to run out in August.

Although County Commissioners authorised implementation of VR Methods, which Carew says is best geared up to deal with a metropolis of San Antonio’s dimension, she says it might take as much as 6 months for the brand new system to be absolutely operational.

Within the meantime, the county has determined to make use of the Secretary of State’s statewide system, TEAM, as a stop-gap answer. Nonetheless, that call additional prolonged the wait time for processing the backlog as a result of large quantity of information that needed to be imported right into a system that sometimes handles counties with a inhabitants of 200,000 or fewer.

The Secretary of State’s TEAM system initially had no document of the streets in Bexar County, that means voters couldn’t be positioned of their acceptable precincts. This meant that Bexar County elections employees and the eight temp staff introduced on to deal with the backlog have been caught in a holding sample.

Although Carew had advocated for the county to change over VR Methods since July, the Commissioners Court docket took till September to conform to implement the brand new system. Throughout Monday’s press convention, Sakai mentioned the hesitation was due partially to questions whether or not the TEAM system might sufficiently meet the county’s wants.

The opposite sticking level was the worth tag of over $1 million to implement VR. That’s after Votech repeatedly requested the county to assist bail it out, Sakai mentioned. The corporate had been threatening to exit of enterprise for greater than a yr.

“I’ve placed on document that we’ve supplied further moneys to them to ensure that them to satisfy their contractual duties,” Sakai added. “As we’ve famous, they weren’t ready to do this, which then put us ready of discovering one other vendor.”

Sakai added that there should be a dialog with county attorneys over whether or not there was a possible “breach of contract” on Votech’s finish.

The choose additionally mentioned the substantial quantity already invested in Votech and the corporate’s subsequent requests for emergency funds led the commissioners to have issues about committing to the identical degree of funding to a brand new system.

“It’s a major sum of money that we had already invested in Votech,” Sakai mentioned. “So we needed to ensure we weren’t leaping from one system to a different system that wouldn’t have the ability to do what we anticipate it to do.”

Counties can incur penalties for failing to fulfill the required 30-day window to course of voter registrations, which might embrace diminished funding from the Secretary of State’s workplace, in accordance with the Texas Election Code.

Nonetheless, on the press convention, Carew mentioned the Secretary of State’s workplace has assured her that it has no plans to penalize counties experiencing delays in processing voter registrations, particularly as a result of the delay is partially a results of information importation points on the Secretary of State’s finish.

Despite the fact that Bexar county has begun working via its registration backlog, voters and voting rights teams nonetheless might sue the county or the Secretary of State over the delay, nonetheless.

When requested about some voters’ fears that the delay was a part of a widespread voter-suppression effort, Sakai mentioned county elections employees and the Secretary of State have been working “hand in hand” to get Bexar County built-in with the statewide system.

Carew and Sakai mentioned voters might be assured the backlog might be addressed in time for Early Voting, which begins Oct. 20 for the Nov. 4 election. In that cycle, funding for a brand new Spurs enviornment might be on the poll, along with enhancements to Freeman Coliseum and 17 amendments to the Texas Structure.

Within the meantime, Carew mentioned voters can verify their standing at VoteTexas.gov.

Mail-in voter registration functions despatched on or earlier than the Oct. 6 voter registration deadline might be honored for the upcoming election as standard, Choose Sakai insisted.

“In easy phrases, for those who apply on time and you might be eligible, your software might be processed,” Sakai mentioned.

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