The Hays County Government Center held a public forum Tuesday night to give citizens a closer look at new voting equipment that is being considered for Hays County.
The two approved vendors on display, Hart Intercivic and Election Systems & Software, exhibited fully electronic systems as well as a full paper and hybrid system. However, Hart Intercivic is the only certified vendor in Texas with a fully electronic system at this time.
In the previous November general election, Hays County election workers failed to count nearly two thousand votes from a replaced mobile ballot box that was not tabulated on election night. Failure to count the votes was a result of human error, due to a lapse in policy, that has since been corrected, according to Jennifer Anderson, elections administrator for Hays County.
Hart Intercivic was the equipment provider for the November elections and remains the current provider of all voting equipment in Hays County. The company implemented new technological measures to account for all machines that will ensure the collection of all voting data, regardless if a machine is taken out of circulation.
The Hays County Election Equipment Advisory Committee will meet June 21 to discuss a recommendation to the Hays County Commissioners Court to keep or update the current voting equipment.
The if there is no consensus, the committee has until July 18 to report their decision.