By Amira Van Leeuwen
HAYS COUNTY — Last Wednesday, a press conference was held at the Hays County Government Center in front of the elections office to announce the results of a historic recount in the district attorney and Hays County judge races.
Hays County Judge Ruben Becerra and District Attorney-elect Kelly Higgins remained the winner of their respective races.
Jennifer Doinoff, elections administrator, was the recount supervisor for the Hays County judge race, and Becerra was the recount supervisor for the district attorney’s race.
This is the first countywide recount in Hays County’s history, with nearly 90,000 ballots being recounted over six days.
“We have counted as closely and as accurately as we can by looking at each and every one of those 90,000 ballots and agreeing that that’s what the ballot says, that the intent of the voter was either for DA-Elect Higgens or for Mr. Puryear,” said Anita Collins, Hays County judge executive assistant and DA recount chair.
Charles Soechting of the Soechting Law Firm, which represented Higgins, described the recount as “cordial” and “instructive.”
“As former state Democratic chair and former Hays County chair, I’ve dealt with recounts. This is one of the most complete, thorough [recounts], and between Anita and Judge Becerra, I’ve never seen a more fair recount process,” Soechting said.
Mark Trahan, Hays County Democratic Party chair, emphasized the importance of voting.
“I think it’s an important message to send out, because it’ll be two short years until another election, that democracy matters, your votes matter, and we want to see democracy that works for the people. That gives the people the voice,” Trahan concluded.
