Texas delays May primary runoff elections

The May 26 primary election runoffs will be delayed until July in response to the growing outbreak of the novel coronavirus in Texas under an order signed Friday, March 20, by Texas Governor Greg Abbott.

The runoff election will now take place on July 14, 2020 — the same date that the special election for Texas State Senate District 14 was postponed to as proclaimed on March 18.

When approached about whether he was considering expanding mail-in balloting earlier this week, Abbott responded, “everything’s on the table.” 

The Governor noted the ongoing disagreement between parties during a virtual town hall on Thursday, March 19, and said that discussion was underway.

Democrats asked for massive expansion of voting by mail in the state so that the primary runoff could be conducted as an all-mail election in response to the current global health safety situation.

In a lawsuit filed in Travis County, Democrats asked that the small part of Section 63.001(i) of Texas Election code, which allows voters to qualify for a mail-in ballot if they have a “sickness or physical condition” that prevents them from appearing in person without the likelihood of “injuring the voter’s health” be extended to apply to to any voter in Texas if the voter believes that "they should practice social distancing in order to hinder" the spread of the COVID-19.

Under typical circumstances, a voter has to be 65 years or older, have a disability or illness, be out of the county during the election period, or be confined in jail in order to vote by mail.

The chairman of the state GOP said Thursday night that his party was not on board with an expansion of voting by mail.

Election offices across the state continue to face depleted resources, as the outbreak has caused some counties to lose voting sites due to the outbreak and loss of poll workers.

There have been reports of school districts, nursing homes, and churches pulling out. 

Along with that, in some Texas counties the average age of poll workers has been reported as 60 in years past, as low pay and long hours deter younger folks from applying. This is the percentage of the population most vulnerable to the coronavirus and therefore less applicants are applying.

Abbott released a proclamation on March 18 that allows municipalities to delay local elections scheduled for May 2 until November, but notably left the ultimate decision to local officials. On Monday morning, it was announced that all local elections will move to November.