Early voting ends with 4.5% of register voters casting ballot

Local elections have been ramping up, and this is the community’s chance to weigh in on San Marcos Consolidated Independent School District Trustee members and bonds.

Early Voting ended on May 2, and Election Day will be May 6.

During early voting for this election 7,329 people voted across all elections ongoing in Hays County, which is 4.5% of registered voters. In the May 2021 constitutional amendment election, 6.2% of voters voted during both early and regular voting.

“It’s never a huge voter turnout for this type of election,” Hays County Elections Administrator Jennifer Doinoff said.

According to Doinoff, the amount of voters during regular voting is approximately double the amount in early voting, so it appears this year’s totals could exceed voter turnout compared to the election last May. She expects there to be around 7,000 to 10,000 voters on Election Day.

For the SMCISD election, there have been 1,573 votes cast so far.

Up for election are San Marcos Consolidated Independent School District Trustees for District 1, Philip Muzzy and Jessica Cain, and District 2, Margie T. Villalpando and Kevin Carswell.

The ballot also features SMCISD Prop A which authorizes the school district to purchase attendance credit from the state with local tax revenues, Prop B which is $147,724,645 school building bond for construction, renovation, acquisition and equipment of school buildings in the district paid for by a property tax increase, Prop C which is a $984,563 school bond for construction, renovation and equipment for the San Marcos High School stadium paid for by a property tax increase and Prop D which is a $17,478,750 school bond for the construction, renovation and equipment for a Natatorium (indoor swimming pool) paid for by a property tax increase.

Voting locations in San Marcos are Christus Trinity Clinic on 401 Broadway Street #A, Dunbar Center at 801 Martin Luther King Drive, Hays County Government Center at 712 South Stagecoach Trail, LBJ Student Center - Texas State University at 601 University Drive and San Marcos Housing Authority at 820 Sturgeon Drive.

Go to https://hayscountytx. com/departments/ elections/ for more information.

This story has been updated to reflect that total number of votes cast was for all of Hays County as opposed to for the San Marcos CISD elections only.