North Harris Montgomery Community College District leaders agreed under federal pressure Monday to open 90 polling places for Saturday's $250 million bond election.
The decision comes three days after the U.S. Department of Justice, responding to complaints from lawmakers and Latino activists, determined the district's initial plan to open a dozen sites — all on college property — limited opportunities for minorities to vote and therefore may violate the Voting Rights Act.
District officials could know as soon as today whether the revised plan alleviates the Justice Department's concerns.
Even with a favorable response, college administrators face a steep uphill climb before the scheduled opening of voting booths at 7 a.m. Saturday. The district must recruit and train about 160 additional workers to monitor the polling places and notify more than 540,000 voters of where to cast their ballots.
"It's feasible, but there are a lot of question marks," said John Pickelman, chancellor of the district with colleges in Cypress Fairbanks, Kingwood, Montgomery County, North Harris County and Tomball.
If they are unable to adequately staff enough polling locations, the election might have to be delayed until November, officials said.
The dozen polling places represented a significant reduction from the 2004 election, when the college district offered 84 voting locations by sharing costs with school districts that hold elections on the same day. This time, the trustees wanted to cut the number of polling locations for the largest bond election in their history in an attempt to save about $150,000 in administrative costs.
But the Justice Department concluded that fewer sites provided fewer opportunities for minorities to vote in a district that stretches 1,400 square miles from Aldine to Conroe.
"The assignment of voters to these 12 sites is remarkably uneven: the site with the smallest proportion of minority voters will serve 6,500 voters, while the most heavily minority site (79.2 percent black and Hispanic) will serve 67,000 voters," Assistant Attorney General Wan Kim wrote in a letter to the college district.
Kim's letter, dated Friday, also pointed out that the college district's original election plan would force those who want to vote in the bond measure and local school board races to visit multiple polling locations on election day.
In response to the letter, district officials provided trustees with two options at an emergency meeting Monday: Expand the number of voting locations or postpone the election until November. They did not discuss the possibility of a court fight with the Justice Department.
Trustee John Fox said the nine-member board had little choice but to follow the order.
''All we can do is to give it our best shot," he said. "It's unfortunate, but we have to move forward."
At the same time, Martin Basaldua, who is one of three board members seeking re-election Saturday, defended the original plans, saying his colleagues did not intend to keep minorities from the polls.
"This board is a very minority-friendly board," said Basaldua, who is Hispanic.
Critics of the initial plan applauded the board's decision.
"It's certainly a step in the right direction," said Rick Dovalina, director of the League of United Latin American Citizens' local chapter.
Abel Garza, a legislative aide for state Sen. Mario Gallegos, said, "We're happy that access will be granted to minorities and all people." But Garza said he is concerned about the district's ability to notify voters of the changes before the election.
Workers will be assigned to the original polling places to direct voters to the new locations. The college district also agreed to post the expanded list of voting spots in various places.
If the referendum passes, the rapidly growing district plans to use the money for new buildings, renovations, facility maintenance, and new parking lots and roadways.
The district's enrollment is projected to increase from roughly 45,000 students to more than 60,000 by 2015.
