Suppressing the Hispanic vote in Hays County

Empirical evidence proves minorities, along with all other demographic groups, vote in far greater numbers in presidential election years than in mid-terms. But the difference is striking when measuring the minority vote. This evidence also proves minorities tend to favor Democrats far more than Republicans. Four years ago, minorities voted for Barack Obama over Mitt Romney 80-20 percent. That’s not even close.

So in areas where Republicans control the voting process, it becomes incumbent on them to use whatever means is at their disposable to make it easier for the non-minority/Republicans to vote than it is for minority/Democrats.

Although student enrollment is not conclusive evidence it is highly indicative of the demographics in Hays County, At Lehman High School, the only Hays CISD high school around here located east of I-35, the total minority enrollment is 79 percent of the student body. At Hays, west of I-35, the minority enrollment is 59 percent. The numbers go down the further west you go in the county. Minority enrollment at Wimberley High School is 22 percent and just 1 percent higher than that in Dripping Springs.

But this is not that surprising. Even anecdotal casual observations by anyone who has examined the demographics of Hays County knows the Hispanic population is far greater east of I-35 than it is west of the highway. So one the simplest ways to make it easier for non-minority/Republicans to vote and more difficult for Hispanic/Democrats to vote — in other words, to suppress the Hispanic vote — is to locate more voting locations where the Republicans are and less where the Democrats are.

And that’s precisely what has happened this year in Hays County, where not a single early voting location in the Kyle/Buda area is located east of I-35, where the minority/Democrat vote is concentrated. Not only that, the Republican-controlled Hays County moved one east-of-I-35-early-voting location in Kyle — at Seton Medical Center — that was available in the 2014 mid-term elections all the way across the county to the uber conservative, Republican dominated area of Southwest Austin just outside of Dripping Springs.

Has the tactic worked? There’s no way of knowing right now, but just a cursory glance of the complaints flooding local social media (and even an editorial that appeared in this week’s Hays Free Press) about the near impossibility of being able to vote at the Precinct 2 headquarters, which this year is the only place in the Kyle area available for early voting, suggests that it has.

I took these concerns to a couple of Hays County officials.

"Seton Hospital has not been available to us as a voting location," Precinct 2 County Commissioner Mark Jones told me. "I have been working for several years with Mrs. Cowan to try and find an early voting location for the east side of Buda and Kyle. We have not been able to find any place that could handle the parking and have the extra space they don't use for a location. If you know of any please let me know."

Hays County elections administrator Joyce Cowan told me much the same thing.

"Our office doesn't take lightly the subject line ‘Hispanic Voter Suppression in Hays County’," she told me. "We try very hard to make voting accessible and as convenient as possible for all citizens. All involved realize that a voting location on the east side of Kyle would be very beneficial to those residing in that area. The dilemma we have is with securing a location with sufficient infrastructure that will allow us to come in with equipment and high volume traffic for 12 days straight. Seton was not an available spot for us this election year. However, understand that we continue to look for a suitable location. We're open to any suggestions you may have on a convenient location for you and your neighbors."

I thought about what both Jones and Cowan told me for a while and thought perhaps there was at least one school situated on the east side of I-35 that would serve that purpose. I know that schools are often used as voting locations. But if you really believe Cowan when she says " we continue to look for a suitable location" or Jones when he claims ""I have been working for several years with Mrs. Cowan to try and find an early voting location for the east side of Buda and Kyle," you then have to believe Jones, Cowan and the other gurus at Hays County had considered that school possibility as well.

Apparently not.

""I don't know whether anyone approached any Board members," Hays CISD spokesperson Tim Savoy told me. "I work with the county elections administrator to set up polling locations at schools if they need them. I was never asked about using any schools or facilities for early voting for the November election.

"We are always happy to help the county," Savoy continued. "Had we been asked, we would have found something."

So there’s that.

The subtitle of this blog is, of course, "One person’s view of Kyle’s city government," so you may be scratching your collective noggins right now wondering what, if anything, suppressing the Hispanic vote in Hays County has to do with Kyle’s city government. And that’s a valid talking point.

But not for long. Beginning in next year, Kyle’s municipal elections will be held on National Election Day, which falls each year on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. Right off the top of my head, I can name three members of the seven-person Kyle City Council who live east of I-35. I’m willing to bet enough pressure will be applied to guarantee early voting locations for next November’s elections will be established east of I-35. The real question, however, is what’s going to happen in four years, in November 2020, the next Presidential election, when, as I said earlier, more minorities who tend to vote more Democratic are looking for convenient locations to cast their ballots?

Watch this space.