Our Mission:
The Election Integrity Project of Hays County will guide Hays County to “Gold Standard” status in the State of Texas for election transparency and integrity to ensure that every legal vote is counted as cast.
We will achieve our mission through ongoing community education, through direct involvement in the election process, and via informed, professional and deliberate policy advocacy within Hays County.
What We Do:
EIPHays researches and publishes county-level best practices for election administration, provides community education on the elections process, and drives policy initiatives that, when implemented, will ensure that every legal vote is counted as cast.
Further, EIPHays is working hard to resolve the mystery of how our elections are run. We are:
- Identifying deficiencies and remedies in the County’s election policies, procedures and controls.
- Recruiting and training Election Watchers.
- Recruiting Election Workers for the County
- Creating a number of new community initiatives that will bring greater understanding to the entire election process.
EIPHays believes elections belong to The People, and that complete transparency and integrity in the election process are American birthrights.
EIPHays Established
The Election Integrity Project of Hays County was founded in June of 2021 by a few Hays County residents who had previously worked together as Election Watchers. The more we looked at the issues before us, the more we began to understand the scope and scale of the challenges in ensuring election integrity at the county level. We decided we had to act, so we formed the organization and established our Board of Directors.
Our founding Directors made the following commitments to ourselves, to each other, and to our community:
- We are agreeing to a multi-year effort – “until the mission is complete”.
- This effort will require weekly activity on each of our parts throughout
- This project will become each of our new favorite hobby
- And it will require we each invest $250 in initial funding
Further, we acknowledged that the success of our efforts will depend on a professional, high-integrity approach to putting forward solutions that will find natural support from the vast majority of voters.
We continue to seek Directors with enthusiasm for the issue of election integrity, and who possess the professional skills and personal wherewithal to help us lead this project to its ultimate success.
If you feel drawn to a high level of personal involvement in this project, complete the Contact Form on the Contact Page
We’d love to hear from you..
Leadership
Sam M. Brannon – Organizing Director
After graduating with a BBA in Finance from the University of Texas in 1989, Sam Brannon spent 17 years in the corporate world helping some of Americas largest companies solve complex business problems through process and technology. The first half of Sam’s career was in corporate financial / business services with American Express and GE Capital before he moved into supply chain software and consulting. In Sam’s last corporate role he was responsible for N. American sales for JCIT International, a global supply chain consulting firm, reporting jointly to the CEO and COO.
In 2006, Sam left the corporate world and decided to travel abroad for “a few months”, but he remained abroad until 2010 when he returned to Texas. Sam chose Hays County as home due to having family in the area, and because of the San Marcos River. By the end of 2010 Sam was already fully-engaged as a policy advocate for transparency and fiscal accountability at the Hays County Commission. Sam has attended more than 200 Hays County Commission Meetings in the past 12 years.
Sam has served on the Boards of San Marcos Kiwanis, the San Marcos Texas Community Radio Association, and the Republican Liberty Caucus of Texas. Sam also led the successful Fluoride-Free San Marcos initiative, halting the addition of dangerous industrial pollutants to the water systems of the Cities of San Marcos, Kyle and Buda. Sam has served as the Republican Party Chair of Precinct 316, and was selected as a Hays County Delegate to the 2014, 2016 and 2022 Republican Party of Texas State Conventions.
Sam is a 50+ year resident of Texas, and he owns and operates a legal services business out of San Marcos. When Sam isn’t working on election integrity, he’s probably tending his vegetable garden or playing in the San Marcos River..
