Texas
Why this South Texas county closed half its early voting sites for 2024
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SINTON — At church last month, Pam Hill’s neighbor approached her after service and asked her if she’d be opening an early voting location in their small town of Odem, just as in previous election years.
“I can’t. I’m sorry,” answered Hill, who has run elections in San Patricio County for more than two decades. “You’ll either have to wait for Election Day, or you’ll have to come to Sinton.”
Sinton, the South Texas county’s seat, is about 7 miles from Odem, a 10-to-15 minute drive down US Highway 77. But Hill knows some elderly voters in her community won’t, or can’t, make that trek. And she’s worried about it.
“My concern is, what if something happens to them between early voting and Election Day? What if they get sick, or they can’t walk? They won’t be able to go vote,” Hill said.
But Hill has no real choice but to reduce the number of early voting locations in San Patricio County from the eight offered in previous elections to four this year — she’s also shutting down longstanding sites in the small towns of Taft, Ingleside, and Gregory.
Texas lawmakers last year passed a new law requiring all counties, regardless of population, to comply with extended early voting hours at all sites. The law provides very little funding, and Hill’s budget won’t stretch to support the new requirements at all of the county’s previous sites. That means a law intended to give voters in rural areas more opportunities to vote will instead have the opposite effect, as cash-strapped small counties shut down sites when they don’t have the budget to meet the new requirements.
Lawmakers “have no idea what they’re doing to voters in my county,” Hill said. Prior to the new law, small counties had more flexibility. “To me, instead of helping voting, it’s hurting voting. We’re taking their right away” by closing those locations.
What HB 1217 says about extended early voting days and hours
The number of additional early voting days and hours required by House Bill 1217 depends on the election.
For the typically high-turnout March primary and November general election, the main early voting location — usually the county courthouse or the county’s elections administration office — must be open for at least nine hours every weekday except holidays. Early voting sites must also be open on the same days as the main location for at least eight hours each day. In the last week of early voting, the main early voting location must be open for at least 12 hours every weekday and Saturday, and at least six hours on Sunday.
Some of the early voting locations in San Patricio were typically open for less than a handful of days per week, and for seven to eight hours per day. But it was more than nothing.
In the heavily Republican county, less than an hour north of Corpus Christi and home to more than 40,000 registered voters, the money to pay election workers for the additional hours and days are not in the budget. Hill is already digging for money to deal with a different new law, which requires the county to add more polling locations on Election Day. The voting equipment for three required additional locations cost taxpayers more than $80,000, Hill said.
Hill told county leaders about the new requirements and requested more money to pay election workers for the extra hours. County leaders told her they did not want to put an additional burden on the county’s taxpayers and didn’t grant the increase.
The new law allows counties to dip into funds, known as Chapter 19 funds, that the state provides to counties for voter roll maintenance. The amount of money each county receives varies based on how many voters the county adds and removes from the roll, generally 25 cents to 40 cents for each one. The greater the number of registered voters in the county, the more money it can potentially receive.
In smaller counties, however, election officials say the money isn’t enough to pay for extended hours and the workers required to support them. Some counties’ elections departments have seen as little as $900. In some counties where the voter registrar is also the tax assessor-collector, the county clerk’s office, which is in charge of elections, doesn’t have access to the funds at all. Every other year, San Patricio receives about $15,000 from the fund, but the county spends that money paying part-time election workers who perform voter list maintenance duties and for internet access costs, which aren’t going away.
That means there’s no new money to pay for the costs associated with the extended hours now required for early voting sites.
San Patricio’s neighbors, Refugio and Bee counties, typically operate only one early voting location each, which is a common practice in rural counties across the state. For years, San Patricio did the same, before Hill decided to add more in response to requests from voters.
The requests made sense. San Patricio extends more than 55 miles across, and elderly residents prefer voting in their own community. Other residents work in agriculture, steel mills, or the oil and gas industry, and commute daily across surrounding towns and counties for work. More early voting locations made things easier.
The county began to offer one day of early voting in various towns across the county back in the mid-2000s, later adding early voting sites in the towns of Odem, Taft, Mathis, Ingleside, and Gregory for one to three days, depending on the type of election. Hill said anywhere between a handful of voters to a couple hundred would cast ballots at those locations.
“At least they had the opportunity,” Hill said.
“One size does not fit all”
During a legislative hearing in March, state Rep. Valoree Swanson, a Republican who proposed the bill, said her goal was to “make it better for our good people in rural areas.” Swanson, who represents a district in Harris County, the state’s most populous, said voters in rural areas may have to travel long distances to the polls, and the extended hours would give them more time to get there.
The bill passed with bipartisan support and went into effect in September. Swanson did not respond to a request for comment.
Similar legislation to standardize voting hours across counties, ostensibly to increase voting access, has been approved in other states, and similar problems have followed where election officials lack the resources to keep up with the demands.
In 2018, North Carolina legislators approved Senate Bill 325. Not long after, nearly half of the state’s 100 counties had to shut down some early voting sites, in part because of the law. The state did not provide additional funding for the counties to comply.
Experts say research has shown that requiring additional locations or extended hours can negatively impact voters’ experience in jurisdictions that are strapped for funds.
“When legislatures try to manage local governments, it invariably fails because one size does not fit all,” said Bob Stein, a political science professor at Rice University who has done research on when and where people vote, and on early voting. “You’ve got to trust local election officials. The people that run elections in their jurisdictions, who have the data about their own jurisdictions, they should be trusted to make these decisions about the hours and locations they need.”
Some residents who used San Patricio’s early voting sites aren’t happy.
Isabel Martinez, 56, a resident of Odem, has for years voted early in town because “it’s just convenient and I can go just whenever I have some time,” she said. But now, Odem’s early voting location at the Planter’s Grain Co-op won’t be available until Election Day.
Martinez, who works at a fast food restaurant in the evenings, said that whether she votes at all in the March primary, and when, is now up in the air. It’ll depend on her work schedule. She says others in her community may feel the same way.
“People who usually do early voting, if there’s not a place, it’s going to deter them. They’re just not going to do it,” Martinez said. “And on Election Day, if there’s a long line and people can’t wait forever … they’re going to leave and not vote.”
Residents of other counties are facing similar constraints. In West Texas, the new mandate has prevented at least one county from opening additional early voting locations.
Krystal Valentin, the election official in Terry County, a small rural county southwest of Lubbock, told Votebeat that prior to the passage of the new law, she was planning on opening an additional early voting location for residents in the town of Meadow. Many residents in the town, she said, are elderly people who are homebound or unable to drive long distances.
But she’s had to scrap that plan. It’s simply not something the county can afford to do. In order to fulfill the extended hours requirements, the county has already spent an additional $20,000 in order to pay additional workers to fill the shifts at the existing sites. Adding more is out of the question.
“If we could offer an additional location for those voters in Meadow for a day or two, for a couple of hours, we would do it,” Valentin said. “But now because this law says we have to have so many days and so many hours, we can’t afford to do that.”
Has your county closed early voting locations near you due to the new mandate? We want to know how it’s impacting your ability to vote. Email Votebeat reporter Natalia Contreras at ncontreras@votebeat.org
Natalia Contreras covers election administration and voting access for Votebeat in partnership with the Texas Tribune. She is based in Corpus Christi.
Disclosure: Rice University has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete list of them here.
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A glamorous triathlete who drowned during an Ironman competition in Texas shared a photo from a swimming pool during a final training session just two days before the tragic race.
Brazilian influencer Mara Flávia, 38, shared the shot of her on the edge of a pool on Thursday — two days before she vanished during an open-water swim in The Woodlands Saturday morning.
“Just another day at work,” Flávia, 38, wrote in Portuguese alongside the pic of her wearing a matching pink swimming costume and cap.
The influencer, who had more than 60,000 followers online, chose the Robin S track “Show Me Love” for her post with the hashtags “triathlon,” “swimming” and “triathlete.”
Flávia vanished during an open-water swim in The Woodlands Saturday morning – the first of three grueling trials that competitors face during the 140-mile race.
Fire crews were told about a “lost swimmer” at around 7:30 a.m., one hour into the pro-female swim, KPRC reported.
Rescuers battled challenging visibility conditions before Flávia’s body was pulled from the water just after 9:30 a.m.
Montgomery County Sheriffs confirmed that the victim “drowned while participating in the swim portion of the event,” according to a statement. The office said its Major Crimes unit will continue the investigation “per normal protocols.”
Shawn McDonald, a volunteer, recounted the commotion before the swimmer’s body was recovered.
The dad, who volunteered with his daughter Mila, 12, said a group of younger volunteers in a kayak raised a flag and blew their whistles, “yelling for help.”
“I heard them say she went under,” he wrote on Facebook.
“I had Mila hand me the paddle and I started calling out to the athletes around us to stop so I could cross. I made my way over in about 30 seconds.
“When I got there and asked what happened, they all said the same thing: She went under. Right here. Right below us. The panic and fear on their faces won’t leave me for a long time.”
The volunteer recalled how one man had a “thousand-yard stare” on his face – before diving into the water in a desperate bid to find Flávia.
“I dove in immediately and began searching. After about a minute underwater, I felt her body with my foot. I surfaced, took what seemed like the deepest breath I have ever taken and went back down. She was gone.”
Boats with sonar combed the area – and McDonald was told to leave the water before the body was recovered.
“The victim was found in about 10 feet of water on the bottom of the lake,” Buck said. “The dive team accessed the victim, brought her up about 9:37 and then brought her over to the shore where she was pronounced DOS [deceased on scene],” Palmer Buck, the Woodlands fire chief, said.
It’s not known what caused the triathlete to go under the water.
Journalism grad Flávia previously worked in radio and television before pursuing a sporting career at age 28.
She previously twice won the Brazilian Grand Prix, and finished third in the Brasilia triathlon event.
Lady Vols basketball is looking to add more pieces to its 2026-27 roster with high-level experience. After completing her junior season at Texas A&M, Fatmata Janneh has emerged as a Tennessee target for her final year of eligibility. According to her Instagram story on Sunday night, she is in Knoxville.
With the Aggies a year ago, the 6-foot-2 forward averaged 11.4 points per game on 43.3% shooting from the field. She also showed off an ability to hit from range, posting 1.1 makes per game on 33% shooting from three.
Perhaps Janneh’s biggest strength is her rebounding, though. She ripped down 9.7 boards per contest, good for the fifth-most in the SEC. This featured 2.6 rebounds on the offensive end per outing.
Janneh also averaged 1.1 assists, 1.4 steals and 0.4 blocks per game. She appeared in 27 games, starting in each.
More From RTI: How Watching The NCAA Tournament Drew Terrence Hill Jr. To Tennessee Basketball
Janneh started her career with a pair of seasons at St. Peter’s. As a sophomore, she averaged a double-double, posting 18.2 points and 11.6 rebounds per game. This made her a sought-after transfer in the portal before landing at Texas A&M as the nation’s leading defensive rebounder. As a freshman, she averaged 11.0 points and 8.0 rebounds.
The forward is from London, England, attending Barking Abbey Sixth Form for her prep ball. She would be the second player from England to join the Tennessee roster if she committed. UT also added the commitment of incoming freshman and former Boston College signee Irene Oboavwoduo this offseason.
So far, Caldwell and the Lady Vols have landed five transfers in this portal cycle. This features Liberty guard Avery Mills, Northern Arizona guard Naomi White, Stanford forward Harper Peterson and Georgia forward Zhen Craft and guard Rylie Theuerkauf.
Tennessee will also roster a pair of incoming freshmen. Four-star recruit and top-50 prospect Gabby Minus is staying true to her signing despite the roster overhaul and assistant coaching changes, along with the addition of Oboavwoduo.
AUSTIN (Texas Tribune) — Texas communities will need to spend $174 billion in the next 50 years to avert a severe water crisis, a new state analysis revealed Thursday. That’s more than double the $80 billion projected four years ago, when the Texas Water Development Board last passed a state water plan.
The three-member board presiding over the agency authorized the highly anticipated draft blueprint Thursday, the first administrative step toward adopting the water development board’s plans for the next 50 years. The plan, released every five years, encompasses the projects that 16 regional water planning groups in Texas said are the most urgent, water development board officials said.
The board’s latest estimates come as the state’s water supply faces numerous threats. Growing communities across Texas are scrambling to secure water, keep up with construction costs and cope with a yearslong drought. This week, Corpus Christi officials said the city may be just months away from declaring a water emergency. Meanwhile, other rural cities by the Coastal Bend are rapidly drilling wells to avoid a crisis. Residents in North Texas have also been bracing for groundwater shortages.
In an effort to restrain the crisis, lawmakers last year called an election in which voters approved a $20 billion boost for communities to use on water-related expenses. The water development board’s estimate shows that what lawmakers proposed on the ballot falls dramatically short of the needed cash, experts said.
“What this number tells me at the end of the day is if we don’t get serious about (funding water projects), there are going to be serious consequences for Texas,” said Perry Fowler, executive director of the Texas Water Infrastructure Network. “Even with the billion-dollar-a-year plan kicking in, it’s not going to be enough to offset the costs of the projects that are going to have to be executed.”
The new estimate accounts for 3,000 projects, from regional infrastructure upgrades to smaller endeavors such as drilling new water wells. Texas’ water supplies are expected to drop by roughly 10% between 2030 and 2080, according to the water plan. In that same time frame, the maximum amount of water communities can draw is also expected to decline by 9%.
The 80-page plan notes approximately 6,700 recommended strategies that would add water to the state’s dwindling portfolio. The recommendations — which are not accounted for in the cost — include developing new supplies from aquifer storage and recovery, brackish groundwater, desalination and recycled water. It also calls for water conservation.
The report suggested that if Texas does not implement the plans and recommendations, the state is one severe drought away from an estimated $91 billion in economic damages in 2030.
The state’s plan attributes a variety of reasons for the bigger price tag, such as higher costs of construction due to inflation, impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on supply chains, and a growing backlog of water supply projects.
“There’s a plan that can meet our needs,” said Matt Nelson, deputy executive administrator for the Office of Planning at the water development board, adding that they take their cues from the regional planning groups. “These are local projects that folks need to implement; they’re needed regardless of how they’re funded. It’s important to remember these are not top-down projects or state projects.”
Experts told The Texas Tribune that the board’s estimate is only a fraction of what Texas communities will need to ensure they have water in 50 years’ time, saying growth and development are outpacing the state’s ability to keep up.
“This is a bigger water plan in terms of volume strategies and capital costs compared to anything we’ve ever seen before,” said Jeremy Mazur, the director of infrastructure and natural resources policy at think tank Texas 2036.
Mazur suggested that the $174 billion only covers water supply projects and does not account for updating aging infrastructure, adding that the actual price could amount to a quarter of a trillion dollars.
“There’s a substantial magnitude with regard to the capital investment needed to both fix our aging and current systems and potentially develop the water infrastructure, water supply projects that we need.“
The report largely confirmed what many water experts have warned regarding threats to the state’s water supply, said Sarah Kirkle, director of policy at the Texas Water Association.
“Population growth, extreme weather, and economic development needs are all increasing demands on our infrastructure, and the state is going to need more water, sooner,” Kirkle said. “This is all while water projects are becoming more costly and complex because the easiest and cheapest local projects have already been developed.”
Fowler, with the infrastructure network, said he expects the Texas Legislature to take up the issue next year, when lawmakers meet for the 90th legislative session. He said the state should take a bigger role in ensuring that communities can afford their respective water projects.
“It’s going to have to be a top-down priority, there’s no way around it,” he said. “The challenges are so immense that it’s going to take all hands on deck.”
Texas residents have until the end of May to comment on the proposal. Water development board officials must adopt it by January 2027.
Alejandra Martinez contributed to this story.
This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at www.texastribune.org. The Texas Tribune is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans – and engages with them – about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
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