“I think we should allow more time for the general population to be involved in this discussion. Most people are working at 9 AM in the morning. Not everybody gets the Uvalde Leader-News every Sunday.” -Emma Trimble
by Michael Robinson |Uvalde Hesperian
July 22nd, 2024
Uvalde County Elections Administrator Melissa Jones presented information to Uvalde County Commissioners Court this morning on a Texas Secretary of State Polling Program which is a pilot program that has been adopted by 100 counties in the State Of Texas.
After considering the presentation and citizens’ comments on the measure, Uvalde County Commissioners could not find the votes to move forward with Uvalde County’s application to sign up for the program which would change what polling places voters could cast their ballots at the upcoming elections in November. Uvalde County Commissioner Jerry Bates motioned the Court to approve the County applying to the program but the motioned died for lack of a second.
According to Jones, the program would only change the election day voting allowing voters to vote at any precinct within the County. She also said the polling program would not change current procedures for early voting and absentee voting. Jones also said that if Uvalde County applied for the program the State of Texas might not approve the County to participate.
Uvalde County Commissioners Ronnie Garza and John Yeackle were absent from today’s July 22nd Commissioners Court meeting leaving only Commissions Mariano Pargas, Jerry Bates and Uvalde County Judge William “Bill” Mitchell to advance the measure. After a motion to approve applying for the new polling program, the motion died without receiving second.
According to Jones, the deadline to apply for the program would occur at the end of July.
Citizens Emma Trimble and Diana Olvedo-Karua spoke on the agenda item to consider the presentation of the polling program and the following agenda item for the Court to consider and act on participating in the program.
Emma Trimble spoke during the citizen’s comments voicing her concerns about the program. She said she generally was in favor of the program but stated not enough notice was provided for the public hearing occurring at the Commissioners Court Meeting. Trimble told the court she wasn’t aware of the agenda items on the polling program until yesterday. (Sunday, July 21st, 2024)
“I think we should allow more time for the general population to be involved in this discussion. Most people are working at 9 AM in the morning. Not everybody gets the Uvalde Leader-News every Sunday.
A lot of people aren’t reading the Uvalde Leader-News anymore so many may not even been made aware this was taking place,” Trimble said.
Diana Olvedo-Karua also spoke on the matter during citizen’s comments. ” I generally agree with the concept of course there are concerns about going this route,” Karau said.
“We do need to make enough of an effort as the county to be informing the citizens. Karau said.
“A lot of our society today counts on social media. The Uvalde Elections Office barely uses their Facebook Page,” Diana Olvedo-Karau said.
“There’s gaps between the times that they post. I’m not quite sure why a three member office is unable to continually update cityzens on election processes, elections discussions like these so they can attend, Why they can’t keep the voters informed during the election cycle, as to the numbers of people that voted each day, reminding them about the polling places, reminding people they have to go to your polling site, Social media is a way that people connect and receive information. Uvalde County does a very poor job of utilizing a very important tool,”Karau said.
