How COVID-19 Has Changed 2020 Elections in Houston

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed so many aspects of our lives since the number of cases began to grow in the Houston Area in early March. By now, most of us have transitioned to working from home while our essential workers are risking their lives every day to keep our great city moving forward through this truly one-of-a-kind time. As we all know, 2020 is a Presidential Election year meaning there are numerous different elections throughout the year, many of which have now been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

 First, there was the Primary Election in early March which was not affected by the coronavirus pandemic. HAR had a 92% success rate in this election. The runoff elections for those primaries were initially scheduled for May 26, however on March 20, Governor Greg Abbott postponed the Primary Runoff Election to July 14 with early voting to begin on July 6. HAR’s two recommended candidates in the July 14 Primary Runoff Election are Harold Dutton for State House District 142 and Anna Eastman for State House District 148.

Two days prior to postponing the Primary Runoff Election, Governor Abbott issued a proclamation allowing local municipalities to postpone their May 2 elections in order to help combat the spread of COVID-19. HAR was planning to be involved in both the City of Pearland elections and the City of Sugar Land elections. At a City Council meeting on March 23, the City of Pearland officially postponed their election to November 3 and two weeks later at a City Council meeting on April 7, the City of Sugar Land did the same. HAR will still be involved in both of these elections.

With most of the city still working from home and the now rescheduled Primary Runoff Election getting closer and closer the issue of expanding access to vote-by-mail ballots has risen to the forefront of Texas politics. While there has been no clear resolution yet, HAR will continue to monitor developments as we move toward the first day of early voting. With all of these changes to the 2020 Elections we should be in for a busy November.