Minnick, Byrne, Bowman sweep local election

It was a clean sweep at the Wimberley polls for the city council election with one group of candidates winning a decisive victory.

Rebecca Minnick, Christine Byrne and Bo Bowman, three candidates who ran on similar platforms, garnered over 60 percent of the vote each.

In the most one-sided race, Byrne defeated Wimberley Mayor Susan Jaggers with 689 votes, for 66.63 percent, compared to Jaggers’ 345 votes, for 33.37 percent. The race was for Place 3 on the council. Jaggers, who is currently Wimberley’s mayor with a year remaining on her term, was running for a seat on the council.

For Place 1, Minnick defeated Tim Dodson with 654 votes, for 63.13 percent, to Dodson’s 382 votes, for 36.87 percent.

For Place 5, Bo Bowman defeated Erik Wollam with 641 votes, for 61.75 percent, to Wollams’ 397, for 38.25 percent.

All polling locations have reported, according to Hays County’s election website. But, current results are unofficial until canvassing is completed in the coming days.

Wimberley voters turned out at relatively typical levels, which are significantly higher that most of the county. All three local precincts had voter turn out of anywhere from 41 percent to 46 percent. In the 2017 city election, about 46 percent of voters turned out. However, in the 2018 city election, 54 percent of voters turned out. For a local comparison, Dripping Springs, which held a city and school board election and therefore had a higher number of registered voters, had around 10 percent of voters turn out.

Three of the candidates in this year’s city election were on the ballot in 2018 with vastly different outcomes for all three. Rebecca Minnick lost in 2018 with 496 votes, picking up an additional 158 votes this year. Christine Byrne had 497 votes in 2018, picking up an additional 192 votes. Susan Jaggers had 529 votes in 2018, dropping 184 votes this year.