Hays County Commissioners To Host Public Hearing On Countywide Polling Place Tuesday

Staff Reports

Hays County Commissioners will hold a public hearing on Countywide Polling Places Tuesday morning to provide residents an opportunity to share concerns or support for the program. 

On Feb. 26, the commissioners passed a resolution supporting the inclusion into the Texas Countywide Polling Place Program.

Currently, the voters can vote at any polling center during the early voting period; however, on election day, voters are required to vote at their precinct polling locations.

By joining the Texas Countywide Polling Place Program, voters would no longer be restricted to voting only at their precinct locations on Election Day and would be free to cast a ballot at any of the locations throughout the county.

On April 2, the Hays County Commissioners Court approved the division of its current precincts to add an additional 19 voting precints to the county. Under Texas Election Code 42.031, changes needed to be made to the following election precincts’ boundaries due to exceeding or encroaching the maximum number of registered voters of 5,000 per precinct.

Jennifer Anderson, Hays County Elections Administrator, said the state election code requires commissioners to review and adjust voting precincts every odd-numbered year in March and April to ensure the number of registered voters in each precinct is under 5,000.

Anderson said the new precincts would require the county to add an additional 19 polling locations for the next elections; however, the issue could become irrelevant if the county does move forward with the countywide polling places program. 

The county held two public meetings in March to share information about the program with the public. The public hearing is listed as item 20 on tomorrow’s agenda; however, the court could potentially move the item up to follow public comments for the convenience of residents.