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County canvasses votes

Election Results
Friday, November 16, 2018

The results of the Nov. 6 election were made official Wednesday morning when the Hays County Commissioners Court canvassed the results at a special meeting.

“We had 80,499 votes, for a 59.25 percent turnout,” Jennifer Anderson, county elections administrator, told the commissioners.

Anderson noted that there were 524 total limited ballots cast in Hays County. 

“Basically, if a voter came and they were registered in another Texas county, they could vote on anything that was alike in the two counties,” such as statewide and federal races, Anderson explained.  

The ballot board, made up of members chosen by the Republican, Democratic and Libertarian parties, counted the provisional ballots.

“We had them and probably 10 poll watchers” counting provisional ballots, Anderson said.

“It’s also worth noting, too, that every one of our polling places, or most of, if not all, had visits from the Secretary of State’s Office inspectors,” Anderson said. “We didn’t get any negative feedback from that. And then for the first time since I’ve been here, we had two inspectors during central count on election night from the Secretary of State’s Office.”

“And they noted no exceptions to our process?” Precinct 4 Commissioner Ray Whisenant asked.

“We haven’t received their final report,” Anderson replied, “but they do let you know at the time if you’re doing something that’s violating law or anything else.”

Precinct 3 Commissioner Lon Shell asked about ideas from the last election — such as reconciling different pieces of equipment — that were put into play with this election and whether there were any discrepancies. Anderson said there were not.

The Nov. 6 election was marked by high turnout not just in Hays County but statewide, where turnout approached 60 percent, according to the Secretary of State’s Office. Within Hays County, turnout was so high during early voting that the Texas State University campus and two other locations got two more days of early voting than originally scheduled, and Texas State had its own polling place on Election Day. The Texas Tribune attributes Hays County’s shift toward Democratic candidates to the higher student voter turnout. Citing information from the county elections office, the Tribune reported that in student-heavy areas of San Marcos, turnout increased by 300-500 percent.

San Marcos Record

(512) 392-2458
P.O. Box 1109, San Marcos, TX 78666