Yes, Election Day in Harris County was just last week. There’s another one coming up in less than two weeks, and, for the fourth time this year, early voting begins Monday.
Two seats on the Harris Central Appraisal District board of directors are up for grabs as two conservative and two liberal candidates vie for the nonpartisan, newly created positions. There also are a handful of local runoff elections playing out in the counties surrounding Harris.
In the HCAD Place 2 race, Business owner Kyle Scott finished in first in a field of five candidates in the May 4 uniform election, but failed to receive the 50 percent of the vote needed to win outright. He faces second-place finisher former state representative and former Houston City Council member Melissa Noriega.
Business owner Ericka McCrutcheon beat four other candidates in the May 4 election, but also failed to reach the 50 percent threshold. McCrutcheon faces businesswoman Pelumi Adeleke in the runoff for the Place 3 seat.
The two runoffs will fill the final two of three elected positions on the appraisal board, posts that prior to this year were appointed by local officials.
Early voting runs through June 11. Polls are open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. except for Sunday, when they will be open from 12 p.m. until 7 p.m.
Voters can review a sample ballot and find their nearest voting center at HarrisVotes.com .
The candidates are running to represent county voters on the appraisal district’s board of directors, a governing body that sets the agency’s budget and can hire or fire the chief appraiser, but does not have the ability to raise or lower residents’ property taxes or appraisals.
Kathy Blueford-Daniels, a former Houston Independent School District trustee, won the Place 1 race outright in May.
Residents’ votes are certain to carry more weight than any other countywide election in recent memory if the May elections are anything to go by: Just 2.1 percent of Harris County’s 2.56 million registered voters cast ballots in those three elections.
Local experts expect turnout for the appraisal district runoffs to be even lower because of the obscure nature of the seats, the fact they are brand new, and the timing of the election at the beginning of summer break when few people are thinking about politics.
The county’s Democratic and Republican parties have been working to gin up turnout, enlisting staff to block-walk for candidates they have endorsed, despite the races being nonpartisan.
The elections have been a source of intrigue because of suspicion from some Democrats who alleged they could be an attempt to wrest local control of county government from the party.
The elected positions were created as part of a sweeping constitutional amendment aimed at lowering property taxes approved by voters statewide in November.
The last sentence of the November measure created four-year terms for three appraisal board positions in the state’s 50 counties with a population larger than 75,000. Until now, all nine members have been appointed by the local taxing entities represented by the district.
Montgomery, Brazoria and Fort Bend counties also elected representatives to their respective appraisal boards on May 4, but none of those races required runoffs. Several other area counties canceled their May appraisal board elections because too few candidates had filed to run.
State Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston and author of the legislation, said the elections needed to be held in early May to keep the posts nonpartisan and seat elected members ahead of property tax season this fall.
Elections for future terms will be moved to the more crowded November ballot, according to Bettencourt.
Where to vote
Voters in Fort Bend County can find voting locations and sample ballots here .
Galveston County voters can find sample ballots and voting locations at galvestonvotes.org .
For voting locations and sample ballots in Montgomery County, click here .
Brazoria County voters can find sample ballots and voting locations at the county clerk’s website .
Waller County residents can find election information and sample ballots here .
For Liberty County residents, sample ballots and poll locations can be found here .
Photo ID needed
Under Texas law, voters must present one of seven types of photo identification to enter a polling place. Acceptable forms of ID include a Texas driver’s license, a Texas personal identification card issued by the Department of Public Safety, a United States citizenship certificate containing a photo, a Texas handgun license issued by DPS, a Texas election identification certificate issued by DPS, a U.S. passport or a U.S. military ID containing a photo.
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