A public hearing on countywide voting centers drew around two dozen speakers, and everyone was in favor of moving to the voting center system.
Adopting the state’s countywide voting system would allow voters to cast their ballots at any polling place in the county on Election Day instead of at their specific precinct polling place — much like during early voting. As part of the application to join the program, the county had to hold several public hearings on the idea. The final public hearing was held during the Hays County Commissioners Court meeting on Tuesday.
The lone voice speaking out against voting centers came during public comments at the beginning of Tuesday’s commissioners court meeting. Sam Brannon voiced concerns about the proposed system, stating that there were too many things wrong with the system to cover in the three minutes he was allotted to speak. He said that the change to countywide voting would encourage uninformed voters to turn out, would reduce the number of polling places and would take voting out of the hands of the people and “make it a system.” Brannon also implied that the county’s outreach efforts about previous public meetings were insufficient and favored the county Democratic Party.
