Williamson County, Texas

The Democratic and Republican primary elections will be March 1, 2022. 

Each party has its own ballot, and you can only vote in one party’s primary election. 

Make sure you register to vote in time for this election! Here are important dates to remember:

·         Last day to register to vote: Monday, Jan. 31, 2022

·         Early Voting period: Monday, Feb. 14 to Friday, Feb. 25, 2022

·         First Day to Apply for Ballot by Mail: Saturday, Jan. 1, 2022

·         Last Day to Apply for Ballot by Mail (Received, not postmarked): Friday, Feb. 18, 2022

To check your voter registration status, find your polling site, or view your sample ballot (during election times) click here.

Register to Vote (new Williamson County voters)

Change Name or Address (currently registered Williamson County voters)

Request for Mail-in Ballot information on next page. 

This stint of cold weather has brought with it lots of media stories and projections concerning a possible repeat of last year's deadly winter freeze in Texas and the possibility and warnings to get ready. Well, are you?

Not only a bout with seriously low temps again, but what about flooding or sweeping grass fires? I watched on Dec. 30 the live coverage of Boulder (Colorado) County’s fire as it swept through the area of my former home, which still is standing while homes in front of it and behind it were reduced to ash. This fire was burning a football field-size area and all its contents in seconds with the hurricane-force wind gusts of 115 mph. All but one person was able to evacuate, but everything they possessed is gone for thousands of families, including many pets.

Central Texas leads the nation in the variety and the frequency of natural disasters: tornadoes, flooding (remember 2015 in Taylor?), hailstorms, fires (usually caused by humans), and droughts (we're just in serious drought – thank goodness for some, but not enough, rain on Jan. 11). That 2021 winter storm was a new experience and caught many of us off guard and unprepared.

Jails are like living organisms, breathing and moving 24/7/365 days a year.

Needing constant care and feeding, a jail requires a committed community to provide safety both to county residents and inmates.

The Texas Legislature created the Texas Commission on Jail Standards in 1975 to implement a statewide policy for all county jail facilities to conform to minimum standards of construction, maintenance, and operation. Its nine diverse members are appointed to staggered six-year terms by the governor with concurrence by the Texas Senate. This commission establishes, revises, and documents these minimum standards, including jail inspection procedures, enforcement policies and technical assistance.

The standards have been established for:

1. Construction, equipment, maintenance, and operation of the jail
2. Custody, care, and treatment of inmates
3. Programs of rehabilitation, education, and recreation for inmates.

Inspections may be scheduled or unannounced and may require most of a week to accomplish; written reports are received by the sheriff after the review. Recently, after three days of scrutiny, the inspector announced to our County Judge, Sheriff Mike Gleason, and in the presence of Chief Deputy Ken Evans, that our Williamson County jail is the one in the state he would recommend anyone tasked with oversight and administration of a medium to large jail to visit.

Wow – another department showcasing the best in staff, strategy and administration joins our many departments such as EMS, the Juvenile Justice Center, Purchasing, and Budget offices as being recommended to other counties to study and emulate.

So how has this turnaround occurred?  The County Sheriff is ultimately responsible for the county jail.  Sharing this responsibility with Sheriff Gleason is Evans and the heavily recruited Assistant Chief Deputy Kathleen Pokluda.  Our Sheriff started with Williamson County as a corrections officer and wound up as the Chief Jail Administrator before advancing to other leadership positions in the Sheriff’s department.  

After redistricting, Commissioner Cook will no longer represent the Brushy Creek MUD area in her redrawn precinct. Last night was her farewell to the BCMUD and theirs to her.