Explainer: Why city and school election dates have changed

The following comes from a story I first wrote for The Malakoff News in September 2011.

In 2006, the Texas Legislature made a change to the election law that sent Cross Roads ISD scrambling, forcing the school district to change its elections from May to every other November and causing the board to restructure the length of trustees’ terms.

It could be happening again, only this time all across the county.

In late August (2011), Henderson County Elections Administrator Denise Hernandez sent a letter to cities, ISDs and political subdivisions in the county warning of the impact from a change approved by the Legislature earlier this year.

“I regret to inform you that our office will no longer be able to conduct or lease out any equipment for your even-numbered May elections,” she wrote.

That equipment, the voting machine, is required by law – so no equipment means no election; and that is trouble for the majority of municipalities and school districts that are on a May-based election cycle.

Hernandez explained that the problem is a change that moves possible primary runoff elections to May. Previously, those runoffs were held in April.

The real culprit, she said, is a change to federal law made in 2010 concerning overseas voters. That change prompted the State Legislature to change the elections calendar which forced the county’s action.

Hernandez said there aren’t enough voting machines to conduct runoff elections and city elections and school district elections. Because the machines are very expensive there is no chance of the county buying more, and because she is legally bound to prepare for a possible runoff election, she said she cannot guarantee the machines will be available for anyone else in May in even-numbered years.

With cities and school boards having their own legally-binding deadlines and requirements in the election process, elected officials around the county have some choices to make.

One option is for an entity to buy its own machines and conduct its own election, but that is a very expensive route. As an example, Hernandez said it would cost Malakoff ISD more than $20,000 to purchase what it would need to run its own election, and that doesn’t count ongoing maintenance or software updates.

Other choices for elected officials include moving elections to November, or in May in odd-numbered years only. Either way, the length of terms for office holders would have to be adjusted.

In the end, each entity (city and school) made its own choice on how to proceed … giving Henderson County a scattered local election calendar.