TX-23: Jones Supporters Clash With Bexar County Election Officials Over Provisional Ballots
Grassroots organizers and campaign staffers for Congressional candidate Gina Ortiz Jones demanded Bexar County Elections Department officials hand over a list of provisional voters so they can make sure all votes are counted ahead of a Tuesday deadline.
At a meeting of the Bexar County Commissioners Court on Friday, Jones supporters and local organizers accused Elections Administrator Jacquelyn Callanen and her staff of disenfranchising voters by not providing the list. The District 23 race between Jones, a Democrat, and U.S. Rep. Will Hurd is tight, with the incumbent holding a lead of just over 1,000 votes in the sprawling swing district that stretches from Bexar County to El Paso County.
“This is public record,” Jones campaign field organizer Kristian Carranza Thompson said at the meeting. “The voters of Bexar County deserve to know whether their provisional ballot was accepted or rejected. The Bexar County elections administrator is hiding this information, and we need it, especially in races as close as Congressional District 23.”
Callanen said that Bexar County Elections staff are following federal and state regulations to ensure provisional votes – which could number in the hundreds – are counted properly.
Commissioner Paul Elizondo (Pct. 2) defended election officials, saying they “received a great deal of abuse from the public” and politicians over complaints of long lines and other issues at the polls.
https://therivardreport.com/jones-supporters-clash-with-bexar-county-election-officials-over-provisional-ballots/