SDN, July 1 2020

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JULY 2020

W E AT H E R

1 WEDNESDAY

CLOUDY

95/77 TODAY

40 % STORMS MOSTLY CLOUDY

MOSTLY SUNNY

THURSDAY

FRIDAY

98/73

98/74

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LIC# ML16126

830.303.3335

The Voice of Seguin Today

Volume 55, Number 125

830-379-2234

Guadalupe County conducting first election during novel coronavirus pandemic Elections administrator reminding voters Guadalupe County poll workers navigating residents through safe voting experience of Joint Primary Runoff Election By Cindy Aguirre-Herrera

(Seguin) -- Election polls are now open for Guadalupe County voters to cast their ballots during this year's Joint Texas Primary Runoff Election. This election was set for May but Texas Governor Greg Abbott delayed it because of the novel coronavirus pandemic. Early voting began Monday and will run through Friday July 10.

normally is happening, I think the voters have had a little time with all the distractions of everything going on in the world to kind of lose touch with what we are voting about," said Hayes. See ELECTIONS, page 2

By Cindy Aguirre-Herrera

(Seguin) -- Sharing the importance of voting is not the only thing that has been at the forefront for the Guadalupe County Elections Office as it

Lisa Hayes, the elections administrator for Guadalupe County, says when voters come out to vote, they'll see a process that is not only safe but aligned with each of the public health precautions that have been laid out by state health officials. w "Essentially what we are doing is the voting machines are all six feet away from each other. We have Stylus (pens) that the voters use when they check in to sign-in. Those are being sanitized after every voter. They have disposal stylus (pen) that they are being issued to vote on the voting machines. It looks like a pen but it's got a sponge at one end. So, they use them once and they throw them away. We are wearing masks. We are asking the voters to wear masks and we are sanitizing everything. We are wiping down door handles and voting equipment and counters -- doing everything we can to keep the polling places as clean as possible," said Hayes.

The election, based on the original March 3 Primary results, looks to solidify an official party nomination for individual races headed into the November Presidential and General Election. At the time, the March 3 Primaries were held just weeks if not days before headlines of COVID-19 began to heavily sweep across the state and the country. Guadalupe County Elections Administrator Lisa Hayes says with Texas still in the midst of the pandemic, bringing attention to the races appearing on both ballots has never been greater for her office. "We have two races on each ballot. The Democratic Party Primary Runoff Election has United States Senator and Rail Road Commissioner and the Republican Party Primary Runoff Election ballot has United States Representative and Member, State Board of Education (District 5) and there is two different ballots filed for the Republican party because some voters live United States Representative District 15 and some live in 35 but each of those ballots -- all the runoff ballots have two races on them for each party. But I think since the governor pushed this election back from May when it

tackles a historical election amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The office which is currently conducting its Joint Republican and Democratic Primary Runoff Election for Texas is also sharing details behind the voting process that has been put into place to keep people safe.

Voters will use a stylus to avoid making contact with electronic voting screens.

B.J. Jeffers 830-560-0057

Hayes says voting in Guadalupe County has been designed to be a contactless experience. She says voters touch the ballot and that's basically all. See NAVIGATING, page 3


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