SAN ANTONIO – School campuses participating as voting sites during Tuesday’s joint primary election had strict safety measures in place for their students’ safety.
Aubrey Chancellor, executive director of communications for the North East Independent School District, said they have a good protocol in place.
“We are accustomed to having elections at our many schools,” Chancellor said. “We have 49 different locations and the setup is different at each school. We just want to make it as safe as possible.”
Chancellor said the main safety measure officials push is having no contact between students and voters.
“We work on keeping students away from the voters,” Chancellor said. “If it works best, a portable at the back of the school is one way, or some locations have a library up front at a separate entrance for voters. And in that case, the library would be closed for the day.”
Like other school districts acting as voting sites in Bexar County, Chancellor said NEISD has security in place.
“At our middle and high school we will have officers posted up there,” Chancellor said. “At the elementary school, Bexar County elections will help supervise with volunteers to make sure everything is running as best as possible.”
Chancellor said school officials also look at other ways to make the voting day go more smoothly beforehand.
“Our police chief went out to schools to make sure everything was set up perfectly or offered advice on the best locations to have the voting located so that it doesn’t interfere with students,” Chancellor said.
Chancellor stressed it is all about keeping the voters separated from the students.
“A lot of cases, students won’t even know voting is taking place on their campus, except for the signs and possible increased parking, but we have been really good with the protocol we follow,” Chancellor said.
She said that, although the district has a good system set up, it would be willing to adjust if needed.
“If there is ever a problem at one of our polling sites, we will certainly review those measures, look at it, and possibly make changes in the future,” Chancellor said. “So far, so good.”