(Seguin) — Guadalupe County’s top election official hopes to reduce any confusion voters might have when going to the polls this early voting period.
Releasing the latest tool to help voters get to the early voting polls is Guadalupe County Elections Administrator Lisa Hayes. Hayes says the color-coded early voting schedule is a way to help voters navigate their way to successfully casting ballots in the various city, school, and water district races throughout Guadalupe County.
“I think it will help because it (has) it broken down by election. So the Seguin ISD bond election and Marion ISD election — that way you can see what the locations are, what their hours are and what ballots are available there,” said Hayes.
She notes that if folks don’t utilize the early voting polls at the elections office, then some might find themselves having to vote early at two different locations.
An example of that, she says, is someone who wants to vote for both the Lake McQueeney WCID and Seguin ISD bond elections.
“Now, the way to avoid having to vote in two locations is to either come to the main elections office for early voting because they can vote on any of the elections that we are conducting here. So, they can vote on the Seguin ISD bond. They can vote on the Lake McQueeney or Lake Placid Water Control Improvement District — they can vote on the Marion ISD — whatever they are eligible for, they can vote here at the main office (215 S. Milam). We have all the elections that we are conducting right here — one stop shop. The other option if they want a vote on both the school bond and the water control improvement districts, would be the Seguin ISD Admin Building and they can vote on both of those but they have to make sure that if they are going to do that, that they do it during the hours when both of those elections are open at the school district because it is essentially two elections being conducted in the same place,” said Hayes.
Hayes says she apologizes in advance for any confusion this might all bring but again ask that folks utilize the color-coded chart with all the specific elections and polling locations. That chart can be found on the county’s website, on the KWED and Seguin Daily News Facebook page or online at SeguinToday.com
“Historically, we haven’t’ done county wide polling places (Vote Centers) in May because we typically only have one or two little elections and they are usually on opposite sides of the county that if we do county wide polling locations, that the cost to those entities would be significant but it turned out that there were several elections that were being held and once, we had decided not to do Vote Centers — to change that plan would have caused complications for other entities that cross our boundaries like city of New Braunfels, New Braunfels ISD — so if we set a plan in place and change our mind half way down the road, it just doesn’t affect our county. It affects, Hays and Bexar and Comal and Wilson and Caldwell and all those other counties. Unfortunately, this is the route that we had to take this time but moving forward, we are going to do Vote Centers in May because it’s too confusing for the voters to have to switch back and forth and I think with the growth that we are experiencing, I think we are going to see more May elections and ultimately our goal is to do what we can for the voters but of course, we are also trying to make elections not be cost prohibited for the entities that are required to hold elections,” said Hayes.
The list of elections that the Guadalupe County Elections Office is handling includes the Seguin ISD, Marion ISD, San Marcos CISD (the Guadalupe County portion), the city of Cibolo, the city of Santa Clara, Lake McQueeney WCID, and the Lake Placid WCID.
Voters may download sample ballots for the May 6 election in advance.
They can be found at co.guadalupe.tx.us/elections.
Hayes says the easiest way for voters to know where to go vote early might still be to simply call the elections office. The office can be reached by calling 830-303-6363.