The County Elections Administrator and County Election Commission

The Martin County Commissioners Court established a county elections administrator position in August 2008, to act as the voter registrar, and to take over some of the county clerk’s election-related duties. The Elections Administration Office was opened on January 1st, 2009.

A county elections administrator is appointed not by the Commissioners Court but by a county election commission, which is initially formed to appoint the county elections administrator. The commission has other duties related to the county elections administrator’s position: it “is the proper authority to receive and act on” the county elections administrator’s resignation; may, by a four-fifths vote, recommend to the Commissioners Court that the “employment of the county elections administrator be terminated”; and fills a vacancy in the county elections administrator’s position.

The commission is composed of:

• The county judge, as chair:
• The county clerk, as vice chair:
• The county tax assessor-collector, as secretary:
• The county chair of each political party that made nominations by primary election for the last general election for state and county officers preceding the date of the meeting at which the appointment is made.

Once the position was established, the county elections administrator generally performs:

• The duties and functions of the voter registrar:
• The duties and functions placed on the county clerk by [the Election Code]:
• The duties and functions relating to elections that are placed on the county clerk by statutes outside [the Election Code], subject to Section 3 1.044 [of the Election Code]:
• The duties and functions placed on the administrator under Sections 3 1.044 and 3 1.045          [of the Election Code].