November constitutional amendment elections are usually held in Burnet County with fewer open polling places than general elections held in even-numbered years, when races for either governor or president are on the ballot.
Burnet County again will consolidate polling locations this November due to anticipated lower turnout in an “off year” after a vote was taken at the Tuesday, Aug. 24, court meeting.
There are five sites that will be open for the November constitutional amendment election where any registered voter living in the county can cast a ballot. They are:
• Marble Falls Courthouse Annex, 810 Steve Hawkins Pkwy., Marble Falls.
• AgriLife Auditorium, 607 N. Vandeveer, Burnet.
• Granite Shoals Community Center, 1208 N. Phillips Ranch Road, Granite Shoals.
• Highland Haven Community Center, 118 Blackbird Drive, Highland Haven.
• Bertram Library, 170 N.
Gabriel St., Bertram.
Precinct 2 Commissioner Damon Beierle had sought to add a sixth polling site at the Briggs Community Center, 215 Loop 308, Briggs, to make it easier for residents in the northeast end of the county to exercise their constitutional right to vote.
Beierle cleared up a misstatement he made at the last court meeting, when he said some River Road (County Road 223) residents had to drive up to 90 miles round trip to vote.
“Facts matter and I unintentionally exaggerated the 90 miles,” Beierle said. “The calls I got when we didn’t have the Briggs-Oakalla area from a lot of folks down River Road — (the one who was most vocal about it) lives 72 miles round trip. She doesn’t live at the county line, so in my mind, I added to that and I shouldn’t have because it makes the numbers wrong.
“Anyway, there are still residents out there driving 72-75 miles round trip to vote. For $800 to $900, I think adding a location in Briggs and the volunteers is just a common courtesy to a lot of folks who live pretty far away from the location to vote. Most of them don’t do commerce in Burnet and Bertram, either. It’s even farther for them.”
Elections administrator Doug Ferguson said he is not opposed to opening a Briggs polling location and previously talked about his experience during the 2019 election.
“I realize we had some pushback in the 2019 election from the Briggs/Oakalla area that went back and forth for quite a while,” Ferguson said. “That ultimately came to an end when one person asked me directly what does it cost to open Briggs for an election and how many people vote during a typical election in Briggs. Once they got those numbers and realized it could be as much as $100 per vote, the conversation just stopped and I heard nothing else about it.
“In the past we’ve opened up Briggs for special elections, like when the school district is having an election, and of course, Briggs is one of our 21 polling places for regular general elections and primaries,” Ferguson added Tuesday.
Ferguson said the cost to open a polling site in Briggs is between $800 to $900. He said precincts in both Briggs and Oakalla were open during the November 2020 presidential election and Briggs was open for the Burnet CISD election in May.
Ferguson said the turnout in 2019 was higher than normal because that year’s constitutional amendment election had proposals which impact taxes.
“That one generated activity we don’t normally have in a constitutional amendment election,” Ferguson said. “Probably our average for a constitutional amendment election would be about 1,500 voters for the whole county. It’s insane how low the turnout is, which is why we are forced to run the election for the state at our cost, but that’s why they allow us to shrink down the number of polling locations we use.”
County Judge James Oakley said the problem becomes “if we start making exceptions and adding on to consolidation, then where do we draw the line and the threshhold for adding them?”
“For example, if you are at Barton Creek Lakeside in the Burnet County portion (Spicewood), what is the round trip?” Oakley asked. “Where is the backside of Whitewater Springs (near Doeskin Ranch and the Balcones Canyonlands National Wildlife Refuge)?”
“How about Naruna?” Precinct 1 Commissioner Jim Luther Jr. added, referring to the community southwest of Lampasas that is in Burnet County. “You’ve got a domino effect.”
Asked what her thoughts were, Burnet County GOP chair Kara Chasteen said “The only thing I would change would be to open one in Spicewood.”
“Our county, the way it is set up, it just takes a while to get around from one point to the other,” Chasteen said.
“There’s two weeks of early voting for the election and it’s very easy to qualify for a mail-in ballot,” Oakley responded.
“And on election day, all voting centers are open to voters, so if you live in Oakalla and you have to be in Marble Falls doing anything on election day, you can still vote at the annex,” Precinct 4 Commissioner Joe Don Dockery added.
Beierle made a motion on Aug. 24 to add the sixth voting location, but it died for lack of a second. Then, Dockery made a motion to keep the consolidation plan used in prior years with just five polling locations in November. It was seconded by Luther and passed by a 4-1 vote, with Beierle voting against it.
Early voting in the general election begins Oct. 18 and continues through Oct. 29 and will be held at the AgriLife building in Burnet and the Courthouse Annex in Marble Falls.
Earlier this month, Ferguson addressed legislative changes that came up during the most recent session, including a bill which requires “a voter verifiable paper trail with our voting systems as of Sept. 1, 2026.”
“We have up until that point to decide what we wish to do,” Ferguson said. “I voiced my opinion because they wrote into the bill how to help all the counties that bought equipment that doesn’t meet those terms within the last four to five years. The counties which held out and waited until the legislation passed are not mentioned in there funds-wise.”
“I can’t wait to see what sort of system and monies the state comes up with on that mandate,” said County Judge James Oakley. “We need to make sure the technology is there and the system is perfect from a security standpoint. We need to work with our legislative folks to make sure we get this right the first time.”
“It’s a typical unfunded mandate,” Ferguson added.
Oakley asked Ferguson if there is a patch available to use the county’s current Hart Intercivic eSlate machines, to which Ferguson replied there is not.
“There has been nothing discussed by Hart Intercivic and they have new systems they wish to sell,” Ferguson said. “They say on paper they will continue to support this system for as long as we use it, but they do not sell the product anymore or create anything for it anymore. It is a dead product.”
