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Resident says return to precinct‑level voting would be costly and difficult to staff
Summary
A local resident urged the court to reject a Williamson County Republican Party proposal to return to precinct‑level voting, citing equipment costs and severe poll‑worker recruitment challenges as reasons the county should keep vote centers adopted in 2013.
Jan Pelosi of the Austin portion of Williamson County addressed the commissioners during public comment to oppose a proposal, reportedly adopted by the Williamson County Republican Party, urging the county to return to precinct‑level voting.
Pelosi said vote centers implemented in 2013 worked well for the county. She told the court that the county operated about 80 vote centers in the 2024 general election to serve 164 precincts and said rapid county growth is expected to add about 20 precincts for the next cycle. Pelosi said recruiting and training enough poll workers to staff “180 sites is almost impossible” and would create “outrageous costs” for equipment and staffing if the county reverted from vote centers.
“Williamson County just really can't afford to take 10 steps backwards,” Pelosi said, adding that one precinct near her has only 27 houses and that reopening precinct‑level voting could require holding elections in inappropriate or impractical locations.
The comment was recorded under public comments; no court action was taken on the issue during the meeting.
