By VERONICA GORDON
Lorene Coffee has been voting in Buda for more than 30 years without any snags. Last week was a first, she says. Coffee was given the wrong access code while voting at Buda City Hall.
“I voted in the wrong precinct,” she said. “I should have voted in 224, but I voted in 225. I didn’t notice it until after I cast my vote and I mentioned it to the election judge.”
Coffee said she realized the mistake because her ballot did not include the city races and the local option regarding alcohol sales. Coffee said she was told that because of the mistake she would have to go to the Elections Office in San Marcos to vote on a limited ballot.
“The thing that really bothered me is that I’m pretty well informed about what’s going on,” Coffee said. “but others might not even realize they’re not voting in the right precinct. It’s gonna be really screwed up.”
Buda resident Moses Leos also had a “very strange experience” with his ballot.
“I looked at the bottom portion of the ballot where the alcohol sales proposition was, and it had two fishy looking ‘X’s’ in both the Yes and No boxes,” he said. “I asked the administrator about it and they told me that the proposition wasn’t on the ballot.”
Buda City Secretary Danny Batts said that he has received a lot of calls from confused voters.
“Not everyone who votes in Buda lives in the city proper,” Batts explained. “There are a lot of residents with a Buda address who are not city residents. Those residents live in a limited purpose area.”
Hays County Elections Administrator Joyce Cowan said not everyone in Buda is eligible to vote in the local option election, but can still cast votes for city council members and charter revisions.
“If they are given a paper ballot, the boxes are marked over so they can’t cast a ballot on the local option,” Cowan said. “That’s the best way we could handle it.”
Cowan admits that some voters received incorrect access codes, but that those mistakes can happen. The main cause of the confusion is redistricting, Cowan added. The city of Buda was split into precincts 224 and 228, she said.
“There are parts of Kyle and Buda that are in Congressional District 35 and some are in District 21. Some folks can vote in the groundwater district and some can’t,” she said. “And some can vote in Buda city elections, but not on the local option.”
“People need to review their ballots,” Cowan suggested. “We’ve taken every precaution to make sure everyone gets the right ballot. We’ve sent out information and numerous press releases.”
“I believe Tuesday will go well because the election judges are focused on one precinct,” she said. “But once you cast a ballot, I can’t retrieve it.”
