San Antonio’s Northside ISD makes November election a student holiday
Bexar County Elections Administrator Jacquelyn Callanen told commissioners court on Tuesday, August 9, that Northside ISD has made Election Day on November 8 a student holiday and staff work day. This means that students will not be at schools that may be a polling location.
Commissioner Rebeca Clay-Flores asked Callanen about the security concerns from the community after the Uvalde school massacre where 19 students and two teachers were killed by a gunman on May 24.
Callanen told the Express-News in July that schools make up two-thirds of election sites, but many school districts didn’t want to be polling sites after Uvalde. She said on Tuesday that NISD was the first to take any kind of step to mitigate concerns by making it a student holiday.
She said that other school districts are also exploring that option.
“Call your superintendents in your district,” Callanen said.
Here’s other election information discussed and approved on Tuesday.
Voting locations in the works
- Commissioners approved resolutions calling for the election, setting pay for election staff, and approving the Early Ballot Board and presiding judge.
- The election board will select voting locations at a meeting on Monday, August 15.
- County Judge Nelson Wolff said Bexar County expects a “presidential election” level of voting.
- With the resources the elections office has available, Callanen said the board can only look at a maximum of 45 early voting sites. In the recent elections they’ve had as much as 42.
- In the November 2018 midterm election, 551,896 people — nearly 50% of registered voters at the time — turned out.
- Both Clay-Flores and Commissioner Tommy Calvert asked for more polling locations on the Far Westside and Eastside, respectively.
The last day to register to vote is October 11. You can check if you’re registered to vote at the Bexar County elections website. Early voting begins on October 24 and ends on November 4.
