November 17th, 2009
City Council sets Dec. 15 run-off vote

San Marcos City Councilmember John Thomaides takes the oath of office for his third term Monday night. Photo by Sean Batura.

By ANDY SEVILLA
Associate Editor

San Marcos voters will head to the polls once again on Dec. 15 for a runoff election between home builder Ryan Thomason and academic advisor Lisa Marie Coppoletta for the open seat on the San Marcos City Council.

The city council set the date Monday night, when it also announced Councilmember John Thomaides officially as the winner of his third term, then swore him into office. Thomaides crushed his opponents, beauty consultant Monica Garcia and retired civil servant Anita Fuller, in the Nov. 3 election.

Thomaides easily won with 63.36 percent of the vote, while Garcia took in 28.9 percent and Fuller had 7.74 percent support.

“It feels good and I’m very thankful of the confidence the voters showed me,” Thomaides said.

Thomaides won 11 of the 15 precincts, while Garcia narrowly came out on top in three of the 15 precincts. There was no voter turnout for Precinct 447, where there are two registered voters.

“I think that shows across the board support,” Thomaides said. “I think it shows that they (the voters) feel that I’m on the right track. And it gives me a mandate to continue to be an independent voice.”

San Marcos has 28,883 registered voters, of which 2,049 (7.7 percent) participated in the November election. Only 1,938 ballots were cast for the Place 6 race, while Place 5 received 1,924 votes.

Thomason, though the run-away leader for the Place 5 seat, was unable to clinch a victory, pitting him in a run-off against Coppoletta, who garnered 26.20 percent support.

Thomason brought in 49.90 percent of the vote, barely missing the mark of 50 percent plus one vote needed to guarantee a victory. Shaune Maycock, also in the running for Place 5, came out with 23.91 percent of the vote, leaving him out of the runoff by only 44 votes.

Early voting by personal appearance is scheduled to begin on Nov. 30 and will run through Dec. 11 at the Hays County Elections Office, 401-C Broadway, Monday through Friday during normal business hours, except for Dec. 7 and Dec. 8, when the polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Election Day is on Dec. 15 and the results are scheduled to be canvassed on Dec. 28. The city council agreed Monday night that the city should also set up an early voting location on the Texas State campus.

The following are polling places for specific precincts on Election Day:

–       Precinct 110A and precinct 113 will vote at the Elections Administrator’s Office, 401-C Broadway.

–       Precinct 111 will vote at the Dunbar Center, 801 MLK Drive.

–       Precinct 112 will vote at Guadalupe Hall, 212 Roosevelt Street.

–       Precinct 114 will vote at the Allen Woods Homes Auditorium, 1201 Thorpe Lane.

–       Precinct 116 will vote at Hernandez Elementary School, 333 Stagecoach Trail.

–       Precinct 120 will vote at the San Marcos Housing Authority Residents Office, 820 Sturgeon.

–       Precinct 315A will vote at Doris Miller Middle School, 301 Foxtail Run.

–       Precinct 330 will vote at the Lamar Central Office Annex, 500 West Hutchison Street.

–       Precinct 336 will vote at Horizon Bay (formerly Merrill Gardens) Auxiliary Room, 1720 Ranch Road 12.

–       Precincts 332 and precinct 334 will vote at the Old Fish Hatchery Building, 201 North C.M. Allen Parkway.

–       Precinct 127, precinct 446, and precinct 447A will vote at Travis Elementary School, 1437 Old Post Road.

The city council also voted to appoint Councilmember Kim Porterfield as mayor pro tempore. Porterfield had been deputy Mayor pro tempore. Councilmember Fred Terry was appointed deputy mayor pro tempore.

Councilmember Chris Jones, who was absent for the vote due to a work schedule conflict, moved to reconsider the vote because he said he was not a part of the process and he said he found it “unusual” for this vote to have occurred without every member of the council present.

The motion to reconsider came after Porterfield excused herself from the meeting in order to attend a function at Texas State University. At the time, Jones was unaware of who had been elected to fill the positions, and seemed surprised that a vote had been cast. The motion, which was seconded by Thomaides, failed with a 4-2 vote, with only Jones and Thomaides in favor.