(Guadalupe County) – Early voting in the Nov. 7 election begins today with a couple of changes to early voting locations.
Guadalupe County Elections Administrator Lisa Hayes says before heading out to cast their ballots, it’s important that voters note these changes with the early voting schedule. She says voters will especially want to double check the dates and times of the six early voting locations being made available these next couple of weeks.
“We have a bunch of different hours besides 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. so I’d like the voters to check our website for our early voting hours because the first week is 8 to 5 Monday through Friday, Saturday 7 to 7 p.m.; Sunday is 12 to 6 and then the last week is Monday through Friday 7 to 7 p.m. So, if the voters can’t remember that, then they want to make sure they come during the hours that we are open which we prefer, they can definitely check our website and all of our early voting locations have the same exact hours. We do have two changes in our early voting locations. Normally, we use the Guadalupe County Annex over in Schertz as one of our early voting locations. That office was closed for renovation, so we’ve relocated over on that side of the county to the Schertz Community Center. We also have the Cibolo Fire Station over there. On this side of town, we are voting here in the main Elections Office for early voting and then normally, we are up at CTTC up in New Braunfels. That was unavailable so that location has moved to Frieden’s Church, and we have our normal location at New Berlin and Redemptive Grace up in New Braunfels. So, we have six early voting locations but there are changes to two of them and again, if voters are confused of where to go, they can call our office or check our website,” said Hayes.
Hayes reminds voters of the constitutional amendments appearing on all ballots. She says others, depending on where they live in the county, could also be deciding on other issues.
“In addition to the Constitutional Amendment Election, nine local jurisdictions will hold joint elections with the county. Each eligible Guadalupe County voter will receive a ballot containing the races pertinent to the address at which they are registered to vote,” said Hayes.
The nine local entities having an issue on the ballot include city of Marion, the city of Schertz , Green Valley Special Utility District, Schertz-Universal City ISD, New Braunfels ISD, Meadow Lake Water Control Improvement District; Guadalupe County (Municipal Utility District) MUD 4, Guadalupe County MUD 6 and Guadalupe County MUD 10,” said Hayes.
Hayes says her office is doing its best to prepare voters the best they can. She says taking a look at their ballot prior to voting is always the best place to start.
“We always encourage voters to prepare by viewing a sample ballot. Sample ballots are available at the Elections Office, 215 S. Milam Street in Seguin or voters can also access their sample ballot online by clicking the sample ballot link on the Guadalupe County Elections Office webpage. The link opens a sample ballot look-up feature, which voters can access using their name and date of birth. The sample ballot will then appear in both English and Spanish,” said Hayes.
Early voting hours, locations, and sample ballots are all available on Guadalupe County’s website, www.co.guadalupe.tx.us, with a quick link to the election information page on the home page. The elections office can also be contacted by calling (830) 303-6363.