Official promises fair, timely primary
Planning for GOP contest has been unusually long and belabored process.
The Bastrop County elections administrator guaranteed last week that the March primary will go off without a hitch, promising voters a free and fair election despite rumblings within the Bastrop County Republican Party that have slowed planning efforts.
Elections administrator Bridgette Escobedo announced to commissioners in a public meeting two weeks ago that she was having problems getting the names of election judges and poll workers from Republican Party Chair Jeanne Raley. The announcement caused concern to officials and the public, who were worried the polls might not be ready for voters on election day, which is March 6.
Last week, Escobedo said the primaries will go on as normal. “I don’t want there to be doubt as to the integrity of the election,” she said. “There are things to be concerned about, but I don’t want anyone to get the impression that it’s for naught, that it’s going to be an incorrect or invalid election.”
Planning for the Republican primary has been an unusually long, belabored process, according to the elections office, and emails obtained by the Bastrop Advertiser show that while the exchange between Escobedo and Raley beginning last year was consistent and cordial, messages in December and January turned more frantic as the elections office became concerned the chair was falling behind schedule.
Primary elections differ from general elections in that they are a function of the individual parties, and under the Texas Election Code, the parties can conduct primaries without the help of the county elections department. However, because planning an election is a daunting task, both the Republican and Democratic parties typically contract with the elections office for some services and have done so in Bastrop County since the office was created, county officials said.
This election cycle, the party chair and its executive committee have been at odds over how much control they should cede over the primary, with Raley pushing for the party to conduct the work on its own and the committee asking that the elections office assist with the bulk of the duties, according to party executive committee secretary Doug Kelsay.
On Jan. 19 and 22, Escobedo pressed Raley by email for her list of poll workers, saying she needed them “as soon as possible.” Names are not required to be submitted until Feb. 20, as per the election code, however the secretary of state’s office on its election calendar recommends they are turned in by Jan. 5.
“There is no reason for not having the list on ( Jan. 5) other than procrastination and inattention by the chair,” Kelsay, speaking as the signor of the contract and not on behalf of the Republican Party, said in a statement.
Raley, however, has not missed any state-imposed deadlines. She said last week she would have the list of poll workers to the elections office in 10 days.
“Because the vast majority of precinct chairs are not doing their job, not working the polls as election judges nor finding poll workers, I have to find workers for 20 polling locations for election day alone,” Raley said. “Any delay is specifically because the precinct chairs have failed to carry out the duties of their position.”