By Bill Sargent
There are several things that will be different during upcoming election cycles, some won’t happen until 2026 and perhaps as late as 2027.
One of the changes will depend upon efforts by the state legislature to redistrict Congressional Districts. The filing deadline for candidates wanting
to run for office is in December of this year. It takes time for voter registrars across the state to ensure each voter is assigned to the correct district, so
a delay in the adoption of Congressional maps by the state legislature could impact that timeline. In the past groups have also brought lawsuits against
such maps, further delaying the job of voter registrars. In 2012 the primary election in Texas was pushed back from March to May because of legal
protests over redistricting. Such could happen again, but with a little luck everything will flow smoothly and the 2026 primary will take place March 3rd as planned.
Another change will be caused by the implementation of SB 2753 which was enacted this year. This legislation calls for the elimination of early voting and replaces
it with one voting period. For primary and general (November) elections, voting will start on a Thursday twelve days prior to Election Day – not on the Monday 17 days
prior to Election Day. The “election period” will run for 13 days, including two weekends and any intervening holidays with Election Day being on the 13th day. The voting hours will also change with a minimum of nine hours per day for the first eight days of the “election period.” In Galveston County we anticipate this will be from 8a.m.-5p.m. On the Friday, Saturday, and Monday prior to Election Day those hours jump to at least 12 hours, with the Sunday voting locations being required to be open for a minimum of nine hours.
- Goes into effect after Secretary of State publishes report to the Legislature regarding implementation
- Experience shows that current voting on Sundays is low. In the heavily contested November 2024 Presidential election, 4,292 voters cast ballots in person on Sunday. With 24 locations being open that’s an average of 179 voters
per location, and this was with the polls only being open for six hours. SB 2753 requires Sunday hours to be increased to nine. The voting statistics were even worse for the March 2024 primary where only 560 people voted during the six hours on Sunday – an average of 23 voters per location! In my view, increasing voting hours on Sundays isn’t worth the time or the additional expense. Some election workers have commented that Sunday voting is like watching paint dry! Some of us who work with the legislature will make efforts to bring Sunday hours back to six, verses nine hours.
One of the side effects of SB 2753 is that election night the election results will be reported as in-person voting and ballots by mail, NOT Early Voting, Election Day, and absentee.
For the May (local entity) elections, SB 2753 also eliminates Early Voting and establishes one voting period. These elections would begin on a Thursday and, run for nine days (nine hours per day), including Sunday voting, and ending on Saturday, Election Day (12 hours). - Goes into effect after Secretary of State publishes report to the Legislature regarding implementation
The good news is that the implementation of SB 2753 will not hap-
pen until the Secretary of State’s Office determines what needs to be
done to actually make it work and publishes a report to the state leg-
islature. That means nothing will change for the 2025 Constitutional
Amendment election this November and, with a little luck, not for the
2026 primary election in March either.
In another interesting twist, the state Republican party is saying
it wants its primary to be “closed” with only Republicans voting in it.
Seeing that primaries are for the selection of a party’s nominees in the general election, the argument they are making seems to make some sense. However, if it
violates state law, actions to move in that direction may muddy the waters. If a lawsuit is filed, it could further complicate when the March primary will be held.
Stay tuned, we will update you as we get further details down the road.
