Hays County sees historically high early voter turnout after first four days

The Hays County Elections Office reported a 24% voter turnout rate in the first four days of early voting.

As of Oct. 16, 36,702 residents already cast their ballot for the November General Election.

“A total of 12.97% voted in early voting in 2016,” said Elections Administrator Jennifer Anderson. “So you can see we are considerably over that in the first three days of early voting.”

This year, 151,108 Hays County residents registered to vote and the elections office reported that they were still processing some voter registration that they received from the state Wednesday but that the voter registration count would not change much.

Comparatively, there were 116,501 voters registered in the 2016 election with a final turnout of 63.17%.

The elections office has been encouraging voters to vote early and to mail in their ballots as soon as possible for those voting by mail.

Anderson told the Daily Record that she has been coordinating with the U.S. Postal Service for months now and that she has every confidence in their services.

The U.S. Postal Service is investigating vandalism to the blue collection box outside of the San Marcos Post Office, located at 210 S. Stagecoach Trail, early last week and said it will be replaced as soon as possible. Anderson reported there is no indication that any mail was taken.

A representative from the U.S. Postal Service said, “Postal employees discovered the damage on the morning of Monday, October 5, 2020. Postal Inspectors are working to identify those responsible for the vandalism to this collection box. At this time, it is unknown what mail, if any, was taken. To determine the scope of the issue, Postal Inspectors must rely on the reports of potential mail theft victims to identify any items taken following the vandalism. If you discover any issues with outgoing mail placed in this collection box, please promptly report it to Postal Inspectors by calling 877-876-2455 and say "Theft," or by visiting our website at www.uspis.gov/report.”

Anderson encourages any residents who are worried about their ballot reaching the elections office to check their website for a list of ballots that have been received and to fill out a provisional ballot at a polling place if their ballot has not been received. Residents can also call the elections office to look for their ballot if their name hasn’t been posted online for a long period of time after it has been mailed.

Ballots by mail can also be hand delivered to the elections office at the Hays County Government Building.

Early voting is being conducted similarly to the primary election in July to protect voters from COVID-19. There are plastic sneeze guards up, hand sanitizers available and disposable styluses for the sign in pad and election equipment that voters can carry with them throughout the process. The elections office is encouraging voters to wear masks and has not previously had an issue with residents refusing to wear masks. sgates

@sanmarcosrecord.com

Twitter: @StephJGates