Despite the area’s rampant growth, officials believe voter turnout in local Hays County elections are at a standstill. With less than 10 percent of registered voters casting a ballot at the polls in May, the number of ballots cast in spring elections has failed to grow in recent years, despite effor...

F or the better part of three hours Saturday, most of us who work in the News-Dispatch newsroom sat around and twiddled our thumbs.  Occasionally, those thumbs were spent rapidly typing on phone keyboards, trying to text our contacts for the information we so desperately desired.  What we had all be...

Calls for a paper ballot election system continue from some Hays County residents, even as the county’s Election Equipment Advisory Committee recommended purchasing electronic equipment.  Disgruntled residents voiced their concerns June 27 regarding the committee’s recommendation to purchase the Har...

Ever since he cast his first ballot as an 18-year-old in 1968, San Marcos resident Sam Montoya has made it a habit to participate in the democratic process whenever it came up. But on Monday, Montoya was “shocked” to discover the ballot he cast in Nov. 8, 2016 general election was one of 1,800 votes...

The path toward fixing potential voting problems began after Hays County officials set the ground rules for a citizens’ committee tasked with identifying updated voting equipment. The move came after Hays County officials held a public meeting March 30 to address voting issues that led to nearly 1,8...

A policy lapse that resulted in more than 1,800 ballots not being counted in the Nov. 8, 2016 election has led to the implementation of new policies and procedures within the Hays County Election Administration. Jennifer Anderson, who took over the job of Elections Administrator on Jan. 1 of this ye...

An “anomaly” resulting from human error led to roughly 1,800 votes at a Hays County early voting site to not count toward the Nov. 8, 2016 election, according to a Hays County press release. Jennifer Anderson, who assumed the role of Elections Administrator Jan. 1, said only items involving the Anth...