Guadalupe County picks up County Best Practices Award

(Seguin) – The extra work that is going on to educate and provide transparency to voters in between election days is not going unnoticed.

Guadalupe County has received a 2024 County Best Practices Award from the Texas Association of Counties (TAC) for its innovative Citizens Election Academy. TAC presented the award to Guadalupe County during Tuesday’s Commissioners Court meeting.

Launched in 2023 by the Guadalupe County Elections Office, the Citizens Election Academy educates residents on the inner workings of election procedures. Structured around four interactive modules, the academy covers everything from voter registration to the tabulation of results, giving participants hands-on experience in election management.

Speaking on behalf of TAC was Tramer Woytek. Woytek, TAC’s county relations officer, says the program is not only unique but serves as a valuable tool for any community.

“Each year, the Texas Association of Counties, supported by its board of directors and its executive director, the honorable Susan M. Redford, select a handful of counties to receive an award for a Best Practice. That Best Practice needs to be something that is innovative, something that is effective and something that is replicable in other counties and I’m proud to announce that this year, Guadalupe County has been selected to receive a Best Practice Award for 2024 for the Citizens Election Academy,” said Woytek.

Elections Administrator Lisa Hayes, who spearheaded the initiative, says the idea was to give voters an inside look into how elections are run from voter registration through tabulating votes.

She says the end goal was to make the election process more transparent and understandable for the community.

She says seeing the positive response from participants “I am so proud and excited and just thrilled for this recognition. We couldn’t have done this without the voters’ participation in our program. They have been wonderful. The reaction of the outreach into the community has been great. The staff in the elections office, so the team effort, they put a lot of time and effort into doing this program and the original intention was to reach out into the community and let people see how things are actually done in the elections office and so, the response from voters and from TAC and from the county and across the board, everyone has been so welcoming and so excited about what we’ve been doing that it really has made me feel extremely proud of this project that we have put together,” said Hayes.

The academy’s success was immediate, with full classes and a waiting list for future sessions. Surveys showed that participants finished the program with a deeper understanding and newfound confidence in the system. In addition, 25 percent of the first academy class volunteered to serve as poll workers.

In a time where the integrity of an election is often questioned, Woytek believes that Guadalupe County has set the gold standard of making sure voters are confident when they head to the polls.

“You hit on a problem that I have seen in many other counties that couldn’t find a solution and so expect to be getting some calls from them,” said Woytek.

Guadalupe County Judge Kyle Kutscher says he is proud of the work that has gone into empowering voters and their understanding of the election process. He especially credits Hayes and her team at the elections office.

“I want to first say thank you to TAC and Tramer. Thank you very much for doing this – recognizing the efforts that counties put in across the state but to Lisa and the elections – the woman with the staff and the energy and the insight to do something like this, I know you work extremely hard. You care about what you do. We thought that you were a little bit crazy coming up with this idea, but it has been instrumental in bridging that gap and disconnect between what you do in your office and what the citizens understand about voting and coming forward and what goes on behind the scenes. I know there is a lot of learn but it’s very educational and very informative. I just want to commend you and your staff for all your hard work and say thank you very much,” said Kutscher. “Receiving a 2024 Best Practices Award is a testament to the dedication of our Elections Office personnel and their commitment to public service.”

Guadalupe County is one of nine Texas counties to receive a 2024 County Best Practices Award. The other honorees are Denton, El Paso, Harris, Matagorda, McLennan, Smith, Travis and Williamson counties.

The elections office recently wrapped up its latest Citizens Elections Academy. The program will again be held in the spring.