.png)
For the first time, Hays County used countywide voting locations during the November elections.
The change to countywide locations allowed citizens to choose any precinct in the county to vote. The county selected 14 early voting locations and 34 election day locations for voters during the November elections.
Alongside the move to countywide voting, Hays County also utilized new voting equipment. The commissioners court voted to use Hart InterCivic’s Verity Duo system as the county’s new voting system. Verity Duo is a hybrid system, meaning it includes a paper-ballot verification system. Voters were able to ensure their choices were correct after reviewing a printed paper ballot, which was then scanned into a precinct scanner. The new paper review system also allowed county election officials to have an audit trail.
The selected system offered a bilingual option to voters, which allowed individuals to make their selections in Spanish and review their selections with a printed ballot in Spanish.
Following the use of countywide voting, the county requested “successful status” from the secretary of state’s office to continue using the voting method in future elections.
During a public hearing on the item at commissioners court on Dec. 10, Hays County Elections Administrator Jennifer Anderson discussed voter turnout and how the use of countywide voting precincts impacted this year’s turnout.
According to Anderson, 7,963 registered voters in Hays County voted early, which doesn’t include 679 mail-in ballots. During election day, 10,245 registered voters cast their ballots in person.
“(This) is a reversal of what we normally see,” Anderson said. “Early voting usually is the high-end number, so we believe this has to do with the vote centers and people being able to conveniently stop in.”
The county saw a total of 18,909 registered voters — 13.35% — during November’s election.
Anderson also presented voter turnout totals from 2011-2019 and added that this year’s turnout was higher than in previous constitutional amendment elections.
“I think that’s a good indication that voters were happy with being able to choose where they wanted to go vote and having those voting locations conveniently located,” Anderson said.
