Published: October 10, 2008 11:29 am            

100,000? Hays voter registration count is on

San Marcos — Now that the deadline for registering to vote has passed, the next question may well be how many of those will go to the polls on Nov. 4.

According to Hays County Elections Administrator Joyce Cowan, there were 92,075 registered voters as of Tuesday morning, one day after the voter registration deadline.

However there are still 7,500 to 8,000 voter registration forms in Cowan’s office that have not yet been put into the system, though she said her staff is “working around the clock” to get it finished.

“It’s going to take us a week or so to get this inputted,” she said.

One particular group of voters — so-called “suspense voters” — is creating some of the stall and that’s unique to towns like San Marcos with a large number of college students who change their residence at the beginning of a new semester.

That traditionally skews the local numbers a bit, she said.

So, how many Hays voters will go to the polls on Nov. 4?

According to the Texas Secretary of State Web site, 59.14 percent of registered voters participated in the November 2004 General Election, which was the last Presidential election.

Two years ago, 36.49 percent of Hays registered voters turned out in November.

Hays’ totals in both elections were lower than in nearby Comal County (62.43 percent in 2004; 41.95 percent in 2006); nearly the same as in Guadalupe County (59.03 percent in 2004, 36.53 percent in 2006); but higher than in Caldwell (52.68 percent in 2004, 35.62 percent in 2006).

        

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