With a myriad of goals in mind, Hockley County renovated a vacant downtown building into a new Elections Office featuring 15 voting stations and two ADA-compliant booths. The county celebrated with a grand opening and guided tours of the 3,100-square-foot facility on June 22.
“The new Elections Office is designed to accommodate the county’s continued growth by expanding capacity for early voting, ballot processing, and election administration,” shared Hockley County Judge Sharla Baldridge. “The consolidation of election operations into a single, dedicated location will improve efficiency while providing enhanced security for ballots, voting equipment, and election materials.”
The $619,000 project was partially funded by interest earned on American Rescue Plan Act funds, Baldridge said. The remaining project costs were paid from the county’s Permanent Improvement Fund. Teinert Construction served as the design-builder in partnership with Chapman Harvey Architects Inc.
The thought-out investment reflects the following county goals:
- increased operational space to meet current and future needs;
- dedicated areas to ensure security;
- improved workflow for election staff; and
- the centralization of county services in one convenient location allowing for overall accessibility and efficiency.
The facility is strategically located in close proximity to the courthouse and county annex.
“The new Elections Office allows residents to access multiple county services efficiently while enhancing the overall convenience and accessibility of county government,” Baldridge summarized.
Elections Compliance
Hockley County Elections Administrator Jody Rose is no stranger to the elections process, having gained valuable experience as a poll worker in college and later as an election judge.
“I have had a passion for elections and the democratic process my entire life and feel it is important for everyone to exercise their right to vote,” Rose shared.
Now in his fifth year with Hockley County, Rose facilitates a transparent relationship with the Commissioners Court.
“We always work together to ensure statutory compliance with the Texas Election Code while also maintaining the departmental budget,” Rose stated.
One of the biggest changes in state law that has had the most impact on Hockley County is the change in early voting hours. State law now requires that all counties provide a week of early voting from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the main early voting site.
“This has had an impact on our budget for poll workers, and it is making it even more challenging to recruit poll workers, as most do not want to work the extended hours,” Rose observed. “We work to comply with the changes and stay ahead of the changes when possible. We always have the voters’ interests in mind, and we work to minimize the impact to voters and taxpayers.”
Rose is keeping a watchful eye on the ramifications of Senate Bill 2753, passed by the 89th Texas Legislature (see below).
While the full impact of the law will likely be unknown for several years, one of the biggest changes will be the elimination of the three-day gap between early voting and Election Day, Rose noted. This affects small counties in several ways including increased costs for poll workers and increased administrative cost for the extra days of early voting. In addition, the Elections Office will have to set up for Election Day while still conducting early voting.
“The construction of our new building will help tremendously with logistics and being able to store all of our supplies and equipment in one central location, which we could not do in our previous building,” Rose shared. “It will also make it possible for us to have Election Day polling in the same location as early voting which wasn’t possible before.”
Elections: Interim Study
The Texas House Committee on Elections has been charged with monitoring the implementation of Senate Bill 2753, effective Sept. 1, 2025, “relating to the integration of early voting by personal appearance and Election Day voting, including the manner in which election returns are processed, and other related changes.”
The changes in law apply only to an election ordered on or after the date the secretary of state publishes a report, explained in the statute as follows:
As soon as practicable after the effective date of this Act, but not later than August 1, 2027, the secretary of state shall:
(1) adopt rules and prescribe procedures required for the implementation of this Act; and
(2) publish a report in the Texas Register stating that the secretary has consulted with county election officials in this state and is confident that the counties in this state are prepared to implement the provisions of this Act.
As of press time, the secretary of state had not taken the actions described above. For more information, go to https://bit.ly/SB2753.
***The County Elections Administrator is appointed by the County Election Commission, which is comprised of the county judge as chair, the county clerk as vice chair, the county tax assessor-collector as secretary, and the county chair of each political party. The appointment requires a majority vote. To read more on how to create the position of an elections administrator, go to https://countyprogress.com/elections-admin/.
