Jacquelyn Callanen, Bexar County Elections Administrator, Defies Court Orders and Stifles The Minority Vote
Polling places and absentee ballots. Come November 8th of 2022 those will be the most talked about and disputed points on quite a lot of lips here in Bexar County. Why? Because of a defiant and prejudicial Elections Department here in Bexar County.
In October of 2020 Judge Karen Pozza of the 45th District Court of Bexar County granted a temporary injunction to voting rights groups after they sued Bexar County and Jacquelyn Callanen for violations of state election laws. Judge Pozza found that Bexar County did not have enough polling places as dictated by law and that voter turnout is negatively impacted by increasing the time and distance it takes to get to a polling place, and voters of color are significantly impacted by the increased distance. A quarter-mile increase in distance to a polling place decreases voter turnout by 5 percent.
Who is in charge here?
Appointed in 2005, Jacquelyn Callanen is the Bexar County’s election administrator and in 2022 she is still in defiance of Judge Pozza and is in violation of those same election laws. For example, Texas Election Code 43.007 requires that a county using countywide polling must operate “50 percent of precinct polling places that would otherwise be located in the county for that election.” That would mean that the total number of polling sites or voting precincts sites would be 776. And 50 percent of that is 388, yet currently Jacquelyn Callanen who oversees the election department asked the Commissioners Court to approve 259 election day locations. That is 129 voting locations short of what was mandated in 2020.
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Supervision
Here in Bexar County, we have an elections board and an elections commission. It is their job to oversee, question and make sure we have fair and honest elections. Making up the elections board is Monica Alcantara, Sheriff Javier Salazar, Jeff McManus, County Judge Nelson W. Wolff and Jacquelyn Callanen. Making up the elections commission are Monica Alcantara, Jeff McManus, Bexar County Tax Assessor Albert Uresti, County Clerk Lucy Adame Clark and Judge Nelson W. Wolff. Additional supervision comes from the Bexar County Commissioner Court. Commissioner Court is made up of elected officials and is divided into 4 precincts. Representing those precincts are Commissioner Rebeca Clay-Flores, Precinct 1, Commissioner Justin Rodriguez, Precinct 2, Commissioner Marialyn Barnard, Precinct 3, Commissioner Tommy Calvert, of Precinct 4 and leading Commissioners Court is, County Judge Nelson W. Wolff.
Precinct 4 Commissioner Tommy Calvert Jr. believes that failure to abide by state election laws will land Bexar County back on the losing side of a courtroom and disenfranchise voters of color around the county. He and his office staff have reached out to Elections Administrator Callanen multiple times, with leads for additional sites, including the Bexar County Jail, AT&T Center, and St. Philip’s College. The elections administrator has not confirmed whether she will add enough Election Day voting locations to keep the County from violating Judge Pozza’s 2020 orders. Commissioner Calvert had this to say about Callanen’s noncompliance, “If the County does not add these additional sites, it will again be in violation of the law as laid out in the court’s previous order.”
To get a more hands on view of what is going on at the Bexar County Elections Department the San Antonio Observer asked Bexar County Commissioner Tommy Calvert Jr. a few questions.
Observer: How is it possible to defy a court order and keep your position as Bexar elections administrator?
TCJR: “She doesn’t feel pressure from the election board. But, to give voting access to more residents of Bexar County, commissioner court requested she come back with an additional 43 locations before election day. We are going to need those extra polling places. It is anticipated by election administrators that voter turnout will increase this year to roughly 700,000.”
Observer: This is true. In fact, to ensure more polling places are available to the public, Bexar County commissioners recently approved $200,000 to fund 43 additional Election Day polling places.
Observer: Can Jacquelyn Callanen be replaced?
TCJR: “The public needs to be more involved and demand transparency from her office. Many are looking at how Bexar County selects its elections administrator. I feel it should be reevaluated. We need leadership who is more open to the population boom in Bexar County and the diversity that comes with it.
Observer: In 1997 and again in 2016 Callanen refused to give the African American media any election information that they could disseminate to the public, specifically the African American demographic. She was not interested in giving the information for free and when asked why as she stated, ‘I’ll think about it’ but eventually said no. What does this say about Bexar County’s attitude when it comes to the African American vote?
TCJR: The voting rights acts acknowledges that our communities have been disenfranchised. Even if your personal feelings are hurt by a particular media outlet, that does not negate your duty to inform the public that you are serving.
The San Antonio Observer thanks Commissioner Calvert for his efforts to effect change and increase the transparency of our voting system.
The San Antonio Observer will continue to report to you, the public, any updates on this and other violations and efforts at disenfranchisement sanctioned by the Bexar County Elections Department.
