Election officials report voting process went well

BURNET —  County officials agree Election Day occurred with very few problems. 

“I would say the conduct of the election went very well,” Burnet County Elections Administrator Barbara Agnew told the Daily Tribune Wednesday. 

Interest in the match between Democrat Barack Obama and GOP contender John McCain led more voters to the polls than usual. Obama won. 

“The most important thing for me is to see the election go smooth, and that certainly did happen,” Agnew added. “In general, things went really well. Everybody was home by midnight.” 

More than 5,940 Burnet County voters went to the polling booths within their county voting precinct to vote in the presidential election Tuesday, according to unofficial election results.

“I did not hear of any long lines,” Agnew said. 

Also, more than 1,283 voters voted by absentee ballot, and more than 9,620 took part in early voting, the elections administrator added. 

Agnew praised the eight volunteers at the Central Count Station in the Election Adminstrator’s office near the County Courthouse Annex on Texas 29 and “more than 100” election judges, clerks, poll watchers and inspectors at each of 23 county voting precincts who worked Election Day. 

“They did an excellent job for the $7 they get paid for a very long day with a lot of responsibility,” Agnew said.  

Agnew also lauded the full-time elections department employees and the six members of the Early Voting Board for their contributions to a smooth Election Day. 

Polls opened 7 a.m. and closed at 7 p.m at each precinct, Agnew said, adding most returns arrived at the Count Station by 8:30 p.m. 

“The building was full of people working,” Agnew said. 

Two precincts had trouble printing paper tapes with access codes, Agnew recalled.  

“Those problems were solved at the precinct level,” she added. 

Election clerks at each precinct relied on data stored on laptop computers to verify the registration of each voter, and if need be, direct voters to the proper voting precinct on Election Day, Agnew recalled. 

“They (the laptops) were very well used,” Agnew said. 

One voter phoned Agnew to question the placement of a political sign that appeared close to polling booths at the Bethel Community Center in Burnet. 

After hearing the sign had to be placed at least 100 feet away from the polling station, the voter seemed satisfied the sign was legally planted, Agnew said. 

Also, election workers did not have to remind voters to remove political buttons, hats or other apparel before they approached the voting booth, Agnew noted. 

“That did not happen,” Agnew said. 

Perhaps the most difficult moment on Election Day in Burnet County occurred during the morning as polls opened at the Cottonwood Shores Civic Center, Agnew recalled. While voters filed into the center to cast their ballots, health workers in the building were conducting a shot clinic, Agnew said. 

“Our election workers told them they had to leave,” Agnew added, because voting laws stipulate only election workers can occupy poll stations while voting is in progress. 

Although shot clinic personnel “were disappointed they had to leave,” Cottonwood Shores City Administrator Hans Schneider “was very polite” as he helped usher the health workers away from the polling station, Agnew said. 

“If that is the law, we will move,” Schneider said, according to Agnew. 

Llano County Elections Manager Candy Kokernot also reported Election Day in the county went well. 

“We had a smooth election, with no violations that we are aware of,” Kokernot said. 

More than 9,580 voters in the county cast ballots in the presidential election, according to unofficial results. Yet, there were no long lines to speak of at each polling station, Kokernot recalled. 

“Most of our voters voted during the early voting period,” Kokernot said. 

raymond@thepicayune.com 

Photo by Raymond V. Whelan