Dates for primary elections could change pending redistricting work

Before wrapping up the special session last week, the Legislature took steps to delay next spring’s primary election dates in case the process of redrawing the state’s political maps extends into the winter.

Senate Bill 13 sets up various potential election schedules contingent on the Legislature’s redistricting work later this year , which has been disrupted by delayed census data. It was one of the first bills sent to Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk during the second special legislative session in Austin.

This fall, lawmakers are set to redraw lines for congressional and state legislative districts, as well as boundaries for the State Board of Education. After pandemic-related delays, the state received data from the 2020 Census in mid-August that showed Texas gained the most residents of any state over the past decade.

“This bill will put the Legislature in the best possible position, given the delay of census data — of course, we’d all prefer it was different,

but we have to deal with when we get the numbers — to carry out the legislative redistricting function,” state Sen. Joan Huffman, R-Houston and the bill’s author, said as she laid out the measure before the Senate. “The bill is also intended to give candidates, election officials and voters clarity about the key deadlines in the election process.”

Under SB13, the primary elections will take place in March — as usual — if the Legislature passes and Abbott signs off on new political maps by Nov. 15. In that case, the general elections would be held on March 1, and runoffs would be slated for May 24.

If the state adopts the new lines between Nov. 16 and Dec. 28, the primaries

would take place on April 5 and the runoffs June 24.

If legislators agree on a plan between Dec. 29 and Feb. 7, the primary elections will be May 24 and the runoffs July 26.

In the event that the state approves political maps across multiple time frames — say, the federal congressional districts before Nov. 15 but the state legislative lines after — the election dates would default to the later window. And if the Legislature can’t get a plan approved by Feb. 7, the Texas secretary of state — currently a vacant position — would set the election schedule.

The contingency plans are bipartisan. SB13 passed the Senate by a vote of 28-1, and the House approved it 96-25.

The House had tacked on only one amendment, a technical provision that would align elections for Democratic and Republican precinct chairs with the new runoff schedules, as requested by the secretary of state’s office. The Senate concurred with the amendment.

Abbott had requested that lawmakers consider legislation concerning new primary dates when he called the second special session. He hadn’t included the topic on his first call for a special session in July, which was quashed by House Democrats breaking quorum and fleeing to Washington, D.C., in a bid to kill a controversial elections bill.

LM Otero / Associated Press While Texas usually holds its primaries in March, pandemic-related delays for census data could mean postponements as legislators work on redistricting.