Hays Dems Defend Election Integerity

for March Primaries Against Assault by County Republican Party Leadership

Hays County, TX — The Hays County Democratic Party is defending the County’s proven, effective processes for casting primary ballots for the 2026 primary elections, despite reactionary changes recently approved by the Hays County Republican Party — changes which will affect ALL voters in the County, not just Republican primary voters.

Recently, the Hays County Republican Party passed a resolution to take voting in their primaries back to old, failed methods of conducting elections that are more in line with 1826 than 2026. Hays Republican Party Leaders are quietly implementing their backward-looking plan.

“Instead of primary voters being able to cast an election day ballot at any location in Hays County, the Hays Republican Party has decreed that ALL Hays County primary voters should have to navigate a backwards, inefficient precinct- based polling system,” said Willie Tenorio, Chair of the Hays County Democratic Party. “This will require identifying additional polling locations and add unnecessary costs and confusion to the primary election process.”

For many years, Democrats and Republicans shared the county resources and election personnel to conduct their primaries. A voter could go to any vote center in Hays County, present a voter card and acceptable form of ID, choose either a Democratic ballot or a Republican ballot, and cast their vote in the primary of their choice.

During EARLY VOTING in the Primaries the process will stay the same as before — there will be Vote Centers and the County machines will be used.

However, on ELECTION DAY, procedures will change dramatically.

Because the Hays County Republican Party has expressed distrust of voting machines, its leadership has voted to not to contract with the County Elections Office to run a joint primary with the Hays County Democratic Party next March under a new, Republican-passed state law.

Under this extreme state law, Hays Republicans have chosen to enact Election Day “Precinct-only voting,” use only hand marked paper ballots on Election Day and hand count their ballots within twenty-four-hours. Further, because of the differences in balloting and counting procedures, the Republicans will have to use their own dedicated election judges and poll workers, meaning the Hays Democratic Party will also have to recruit and train a separate set of judges and workers for Election Day, increasing the cost for both parties.

But the most insidious part of this law is how it impacts Election Day polling locations for Hays Democratic voters as well as for Republicans.

That’s because under this extreme law, if one party chooses precinct only polling sites, then BOTH parties must use precinct only polling. That means there will be no Countywide Vote Centers on Election Day.

“For the benefit of ALL Hays County voters, the Hays Democratic Party will continue to honor our contract with the Hays County Election Office to conduct Democratic Party primaries using the county’s electronic machines with paper backup for both Early and Election Day balloting,” said Tenorio. “HaysDems is committed to protecting the right of every citizen to cast their vote safely and securely, and to have that vote counted accurately. It is the bedrock of our republic.”

“HaysDems will continue to fight these GOP efforts to undermine our elections, dragging them back into the 19th Century when graft and corruption were rampant,” Tenorio concluded. “Our years long partnership with our County Elections office serves ALL voters well. We need to move forward, not go backward to failed and questionable election methods of the past.”

Thank you for your attention to this matter. 

 

 

Posted on 24 Nov 2025, 16:26 - Category: County News