WilCo Election Screw-Up

If you live in Williamson County, and you think you know where you are suppsed to be voting, double-check. The card that the Williamson County Elections Department sent you may be wrong. There is no suggestion of any impropriety: instead, a spreadsheet foul-up meant that 3,000 voters in nine precincts have been sent the wrong information

What's got people frustrated is that the department was told about the problem by Diana Maldonado's campaign on Wednesday after two voters contacted them to say that their card was incorrect, and it took until Thursday to get any kind of announcement out there. That's four days of early voting, and when the press release came out, it did not explain what happened or who might be responsible: in fact, the foul-up is buried almost at the bottom of the press notification.

See below the fold for full press release.

Lucky there was a paper trail, eh?

VOTERS ENCOURAGED TO CHECK THEIR PRECINCT VOTING LOCATION

October 23, 2008 (Williamson County, TX) Some precincts in Williamson County will have new polling locations for Election Day, November 4. On Election Day, voters must vote in the polling location designated for their precinct.

Below are polling places that have changed from November 2007 to November 2008

November 2007 November 2008
185 Pond Springs Elementary School
185 Rattan Creek Park Community Bldg.
186/189 Holy Family Catholic Church
186/189 Lord of Life Lutheran Church
314 County Courthouse
314 San Gabriel Community Center
331 RRISD Purchasing Complex
331 Cedar Valley Middle School
357 Mary Bailey Head Start
357 Parks and Rec Admin. Bldg.
370 Girl Scout Hut
370 Grace Episcopal Church
371 Georgetown Country Club
371 Georgetown ISD Admin. Bldg
379 Georgetown Fire Station #4
379 Berry Creek Country Club
382 Westside Church of Christ
382 Cactus Ranch Elementary School

In addition, the following precincts and their polling locations are new since November 2007.
392 Village Elementary School
394 Sun City Social Center
395 Wellspring United Methodist Church
396 Sun City Social Center
397 Patsy Sommer Elementary
398 Westside Church of Christ
399 Sun City Social Center

Information on all Election Day voting locations for each precinct can be found on the Elections website at http://www.wilcogov.org/elections.

Notifications of the new polling locations were sent out by mail; however, just under 3,000 of the notifications were sent incorrect polling location information. Corrected notifications were sent out when the mistake was discovered stating the correct polling location and telling recipients to ignore earlier notifications.

Early voting for the November 4 General Election began Monday, October 20, and ends Friday, October 31. Registered voters may vote at any early voting location, making early voting a convenient way to vote and also an opportunity to avoid possible long lines on Election Day when voters must vote at their assigned precinct location. Early voting in Williamson County is all electronic, providing an accurate, safe and secure way to vote. Early voting locations are open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday and Sundays from 12 to 6 p.m. For early voting locations visit http://www.wilcogov.org/CountyDepartments/Elections/tabid/450/language/en-US/Default.aspx

For more information, call the Elections Office at 943-1630.