County OKs curbside voting equipment purchase

Hays County will soon purchase curbside voting equipment and upgrade its election system software, following approval from the commissioners court Tuesday. 

With a unanimous vote during Tuesday's meeting, the Hays County Commissioners Court approved authorizations for the county’s elections administration office to use grant funding from the Center for Tech and Civic Life (CTCL) to purchase Hart Verity Duo Go for curbside voting and to upgrade the Hart Verity Voting System. 

“This particular item is a required update that was certified for the Hart equipment that we purchased,” Elections Administrator Jennifer Anderson said. “It’s important to note that these upgrades are certified the same way as the systems that we initially purchased through both the federal government and the state government.” 

Anderson said the system upgrade will provide an update from Windows 7 to Windows 10, and will improve some of the security features. 

Anderson said the Hart Verity Duo Go will provide an easier way to allow registered voters to cast their ballots curbside. 

“When we purchased the Hart equipment, it was said that neither system that was certified at that time could perform curbside voting that we really thought was the best,” Anderson said. “Part of that is due to the fact that it’s a hybrid system that prints and there’s a lot of requirements for equipment to take out to the curb for curbside voting. And it’s heavy, it’s cumbersome, it’s difficult to see in the sunlight, so there are a lot of challenges. 

“So, our vendor has come up with a solution that they think is going to help a lot of that,” she added. “(The Hart Verity Duo Go) is a lighter component, and you take just the tablet, not the whole case itself, and you put it in the component and you take this out to the car. It’s a lot easier to handle.” 

Funding for the purchases will come through CTCL grant funding and will not require funds from the county. 

In other business, the commissioners approved the third amendment to the interlocal agreement between Hays County and the City of San Marcos related to San Marcos’ Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone No. 5.

The third amendment to the San Marcos TIRZ No. 5 interlocal agreement reduces Hays County’s payment to the program from 70% to 25% of the tax increment for tax year 2021. This was also done in tax year 2020. 

“We did this for last tax year as well right during our budget process and then the city has requested that we consider this for this (tax year),” Commissioners Lon Shell said. 

The county’s move comes after the San Marcos City Council supported an ordinance amending the project plan for the TIRZ No. 5, also known as the “Downtown TIRZ,” extending the city’s and the county’s reduced contribution rate of the tax increment deposited into the Tax Increment Fund from 70% to 25% for one additional year. 

The decision was made during the COVID-19 pandemic to mitigate some of the financial impacts. One additional year was suggested to help them through the challenging financial times. 

The reduced contributions will save the city around $638K and Hays County around $422K.

The Hays County Commissioners Court’s next meeting will take place Tuesday, May 18 at 9 a.m. inside the Hays County Historic Courthouse — 111 E. San Antonio St. — Room 301.