SAN ANTONIO — Large and loud - those are two words describing the crowd at Bexar County Commissioners Court Tuesday morning.
The two hot issues that brought out more than 50 people for the citizens to be heard portion of the meeting concerned equal, easy access to voting sites and making sure the Bexar County Sheriff's office is adequately funded.
It is budget season, when people fight to get their fair share of the county's money pie.
An early version of the budget includes a proposal to save money by reducing the number of polling sites countywide.
Many said don't slice voting locations and cut out hungry voters.
Fred Flores told Commissioners "We need more voting sites because I am worried about my community. We have a lot of elderly in my block and...we want to make it easier for them to come out."
A number of college students from Our Lady of the Lake University and other schools made impassioned pleas to save polling places on campus.
"Many students lack access to cars, while maintaining busy class schedules. So the lack of voting locations on campus drastically lowers the likelihood that many students will find the time or the means to vote," one said.
The college crowd found a friend in Commissioner Justin Rodriguez, who told the students he would be an advocate for their cause.
Student voter Aniah Ammah said "It took all of us. I like to see that our officials actually listened to us. It's nice to know because at least we know we have someone who will listen and get things done for us."
Arguments to save the sheriff's budget from cuts were passionate as well, with one woman saying "I was a victim of domestic violence in the county's jurisdiction and the response time was so long, that I had to flee from my home on foot and catch a taxi to a safe place."
Rosie Baca said "We do not need to defund them. We need to give them what it takes to make our safety number one."
Responding to the concerns, Sheriff Javier Salazar said the county population has grown and the law enforcement response needs to keep pace.
"What we had was fine when the patrol district was cow pasture, but now there are rooftops as far as the eye can see and we're asking to grow the agency at the same rate the county is growing," Salazar said, adding he hopes to add about 55 positions in the new budget year.
Commissioners are scheduled to vote on the new budget next week.