January9,1976

The Honorable Ted Butler Criminal DistrictAttorney Bexar County San Antonio, Texas 70205 Opinion No. H-760
He: Pollingplaces for the election of county school trustees.
Dear Mr. Butler:
You have asked two questions concerning the election of county school trustees in Bexar County, which has a population in excess of 500,000, according to the last federal census. You explain that the county has a seven member board of county school trustees, three of whom are elected from the county at large. The others are elected singly from the four commissioners'precincts. Fifteen independent school districts cover the entire county. There is no common school district. However, the independent schooldistricts do not all conduct elections for their district trustees at the same time. As a consequence, at the time of the regular elections for county school trustees some of the individual districts do not hold simultaneousdistrict trustee elections or designate polling places in those districtswhich voters may use to vote for county school trustees. You ask:

QuestionNo. 1: Can an independent school distr= Folding an election for school district trustees be required by the election order of the County Judge to permit voters, [whoare] otherwise qualified as electors, [and] who reside in another independent school district not conducting an election for school district trustees that day, to vote a limitedballot for the election of county school trustees only?

p.3209The Honorable Ted Butler - page 2 (H-760)

Question No. 2: Can an independent school district i;otholding an election for school district trustees be required to hold an election for the regular election of county school trustees? Section 11.03 of the Texas EducationCode governs the election of county school trustees. It reads in part:

(a) Elections of county school trustees or members of the countyboard of educationand district trustees shall be held on the first Saturday inApril, except that in counties having a population of 500,000or more, according to the lastpreceding federal census, such electionsmay be held on any other Saturday the trustees or board members may selectby official resolution. (b) Election officers appointed to hold the election for district trustees in each schooldistrict shallhold the regular election for county school trustees or county board members.

. . . (d) The order for such elections must be made by the county judgeat least 30 days prior to election day andmust designate as voting places within each common or independent schooldistrict the same places at which votes are cast for the district trustees. (e) It shallbe no valid objection that the voters of a commissionersprecinct are requiredby operation of this section to cast their ballots at a pollingplace outside the commissionersprecinct of their residence.

. . . .

p.3210The Honorable Ted Butler - page 3 (H-760)

In our opinion this statuteoriginally contemplates that elections will be held for district trustees and county school trustees at the same time ,whether on the first Saturday in April or some other day. Opinion C-40 (19631, Attorney General interpretingpredecessor statutes, said: Under these statutes,an election for

county school trusteesmust be conducted at the same place and by the same election officers as an election for trustees of an independent school district which is held on the same day.

. . . In our opinion, the effect of [twoof the statutes] is to make the election of county school trustees a part of the election for district trustees, although these statutes do not require use of a singleballot form and do not authorize a complete fusion of duties in conducting the election and canvassing the returns as is permitted [bya third statute]. However, section 23.08 of the Texas EducationCode states that

[ellectionsfor trustees of independent school districts shall be held on the first Saturday inApril, except that in counties having a population of 500,000 or more the trusteesmay by official resolution select any other Saturday. Attorney General Opinion M-740 (1970)concluded that each independent schooldistrict has the authority under that section to select any other Saturday by official resolution of its board, and implied that the changes could bemade whether or not other independentschool districts in the county, or the county schoolboard,made the same change.

p.3211The HonorableTed Butlers- page 4 (H-760)

Although the 64th Legislature enacted sections 2.01b and 2.01~ of the Texas Election Code to standardizeelection dates and authorize joint elections under certain conditions so that school trustee elections may be conductedon only a limitednumber of dates, it is still statutorilypossible for Bexar County local schoolboards to selectdates for school district trustee electionswhich differ from the county school trustee election dates. See alsoTexas Election Code, sec. 2.06a and Texas Education Code, sec. 17.95.
We conclude that elections for independentschool district trusteesmay be held at times different from elections for county school trustees, though if they areheld on the same day, theymust be consolidated. But the circumstance that the board of trustees of an independentschool district has chosen to hold elections for its trustees on a date different from that set for the election of county school trusteesdoes not relieve it of the duty and responsibility to provide election officers and its regularpollingplaces for county school trustee elections pursuant to subsections (b)and (d)of section 17.03of the Texas Education Code. See AttorneyGeneral Opinion M-645 (1970). Those provisions Ginly intend that voters in each independentschool district have the opportunity to cast their votes for county school trustees at polling places locatedwithin theirparticular school districts. See Attorney General OpinionH-555 (1975). Accordingly,we answeryour first question in the negative andyour second question in the affirmative. See TaaBfen;.w;;;Iy, 316.S.W.Zd 311 (Tex.Civ.App.-- Amarilx 1958 SUMMARY

Independent schooldistricts not holding an election for independent schooldistrict trustees on the day set for the election of county school trustees in countieshaving a population in excess of 500,000 are required to hold county school trustee electionswithin

p.3212. .

The HonorableTed Butler - page 5 (H-760)

the school district. Independentschool districts holding simultaneouselections for district trustees on that day cannotbe required to provide voting places for voters from the school districts not holding such a simultaneous election. Jery trulyyours,

Attorney Generalof Texas
APPROVED: v--

Opinion Cams

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