January 9, 1976 

The Honorable Ted Butler 

Criminal District Attorney 

Bexar County 

San Antonio, Texas 70205 

Opinion No. H-760 

He: Polling places 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 school districts 

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 simultaneous district trustee elections 

or designate polling places in those districts which voters 

may use to vote for county school trustees. You ask: 

Question No. 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, [who are] 

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 limited ballot for the election 

of county school trustees only? 

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

Question No. 2: Can an independent 

school district i;ot holding 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 Education Code governs the 

election of county school trustees. It reads in part: 

(a) Elections of county school 

trustees or members of the county board 

of education and district trustees shall 

be held on the first Saturday in April, 

except that in counties having a population of 500,000 or more, according to 

the last preceding federal census, such 

elections may be held on any other 

Saturday the trustees or board members 

may select by official resolution. 

(b) Election officers appointed to 

hold the election for district trustees 

in each school district shall hold the 

regular election for county school 

trustees or county board members. 

. . . 

(d) The order for such elections 

must be made by the county judge at least 

30 days prior to election day and must 

designate as voting places within each 

common or independent school district the 

same places at which votes are cast for 

the district trustees. 

(e) It shall be no valid objection 

that the voters of a commissioners precinct 

are required by operation of this section 

to cast their ballots at a polling place 

outside the commissioners precinct of their 

residence. 

. . . . 

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

In our opinion this statute originally 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 

interpreting predecessor statutes, 

said: 

Under these statutes, an election for 

county school trustees must 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 [two of 

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 

single ballot form and do not authorize a 

complete fusion of duties in conducting 

the election and canvassing the returns 

as is permitted [by a third statute]. 

However, section 23.08 of the Texas Education Code 

states that 

[ellections for trustees of independent 

school districts shall be held on the 

first Saturday in April, except that in 

counties having a population of 500,000 

or more the trustees may by official 

resolution select any other Saturday. 

Attorney General Opinion M-740 (1970) concluded that each 

independent school district has the authority under that 

section to select any other Saturday by official resolution 

of its board, and implied that the changes could be made 

whether or not other independent school districts in the 

county, or the county school board, made the same change. 

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

Although the 64th Legislature enacted sections 2.01b 

and 2.01~ of the Texas Election Code to standardize election 

dates and authorize joint elections under certain conditions 

so that school trustee elections may be conducted on only a 

limited number of dates, it is still statutorily possible 

for Bexar County local school boards to select dates for 

school district trustee elections which differ from the 

county school trustee election dates. See also Texas Election 

Code, sec. 2.06a and Texas Education Code, sec. 17.95. 

We conclude that elections for independent school 

district trustees may be held at times different from elections 

for county school trustees, though if they are held on the 

same day, they must be consolidated. But the circumstance 

that the board of trustees of an independent school district 

has chosen to hold elections for its trustees on a date 

different from that set for the election of county school 

trustees does not relieve it of the duty and responsibility 

to provide election officers and its regular polling places 

for county school trustee elections pursuant to subsections 

(b) and (d) of section 17.03 of the Texas Education Code. 

See Attorney General Opinion M-645 (1970). Those provisions 

Ginly intend that voters in each independent school district 

have the opportunity to cast their votes for county school 

trustees at polling places located within their particular 

school districts. See Attorney General Opinion H-555 (1975). 

Accordingly, we answer your first question in the 

negative and your second question in the affirmative. See 

TaaBfen;.w;;;Iy, 316. S.W.Zd 311 (Tex.Civ.App. -- Amarilx 

1958 

SUMMARY 

Independent school districts not holding 

an election for independent school district 

trustees on the day set for the election of 

county school trustees in counties having a 

population in excess of 500,000 are required 

to hold county school trustee elections within 

p. 3212 
. . 

The Honorable Ted Butler - page 5 (H-760) 

the school district. Independent school 

districts holding simultaneous elections for 

district trustees on that day cannot be required 

to provide voting places for voters from the 

school districts not holding such a simultaneous 

election. 

Jery truly yours, 

Attorney General of Texas 

APPROVED: 

v-- 

Opinion Cams littee 

jwb 

p. 3213