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The Smith County Commissioners Court unanimously approved the building of a new website aimed at training judges and clerks for the upcoming November election.

“This is a unique opportunity,” Karen Nelson, the county’s elections administrator, said.

The website, funded by a COVID-19 relief grant to the county, is expected to launch in mid-September, with the objective to train workers safely amid the coronavirus pandemic.

For this past primary election, Nelson said they trained 325 people in a “jam-packed” room. But as the pandemic continues to hamper large gatherings, the elections board had to come up with some “creative solutions.”

“Anything that would be election training related, and even taking it past what we would actually be able to do in-person because we don’t have enough time,” Nelson said. “We’re going to be able to put even more things that will be there at your fingertips.”

The website will consist of instructional videos on how to navigate voting kiosks, as well as pictures and explanations of documents in elections notebooks. It will also allow workers to train at their own pace.

Previous training has taken over 20 sessions to complete, Smith County Chief Information Officer Don Bell said.

“We were focused on the security of the information,” Bell said. “Accessibility (was important), making it easy for them to access.”

The site, Bell explained, has an emphasis on security. The site will be password protected and track the worker’s progress through the training.

“It’s going to be something that we can build upon and make better,” Nelson said.

During the public comment section of the session, one citizen, Dalila Reynoso, raised concerns over the recent COVID-19 outbreak in the Smith County Central Jail.

On Monday, the Smith County Sheriff’s Office said four inmates in the central jail tested positive for the coronavirus after showing symptoms last week.

“What happens in the jail affects the entire community,” Reynoso said.

Reynoso asked the commissioners court to consider ways of reducing the jail population, including releasing those awaiting pre-trial who can’t afford their bail or increasing their “cite and release program.”

Reynoso also advocated for more transparency into the jail’s protocol in handling their COVID-19 positive inmates, such as where they are being quarantined and how frequently testing is conducted.

As of Monday, the number of inmates with active positive test confirmation in Smith County jail is seven, and fifty inmates with no active cases are currently quarantined, according to the Texas Commission on Jail Standards.

One inmate has died due to COVID-19, according to the Texas Commission on Jail Standards.

Raul Rodriguez, 61, tested positive for the virus and died in mid-May, according to Rodriguez’s family.

At the time of his death, the Smith County Sheriff’s Office said the Texas Rangers would conduct an investigation, which is standard protocol for an inmate death. The Smith County Jail reported one COVID-related death to the Texas Commission on Jail Standards that day.

All inmates with COVID-19 are housed in a portion of the Smith County North Jail.

A special session of the commissioner’s court is taking place for a public hearing on the county’s budget on Tuesday evening at 5:30 p.m. in the Smith County Annex building downtown.