City to hold May election as scheduled; county primary runoff postponed
The City of Breckenridge will hold the May 2 municipal election as scheduled, but the runoff primary election between David Fambro and Chad Ezell for the Republican nomination for County Commissioner, Precinct 1, has been postponed until July 14 by Gov. Greg Abbott.
City of Breckenridge election
In the City election, voters will cast ballots for the City Commissioner Place 2 race between incumbent Rob Durham and challenger Gary Mercer. Also on the ballot will be two unopposed races: Breckenridge Mayor, with Bob Sims as the only candidate, and City Commissioner Place 1, with Russell Blue as the only candidate.
Additionally, the ballot will include a proposition to reauthorize a ¼ of 1 percent (0.0025) sales tax used for the City’s street maintenance fund. The sales tax used for the street maintenance fund is required to be renewed every four years.
Click the following link to download a sample ballot: City of Breckenridge Sample Ballot – 2020
City Secretary Heather Robertson-Caraway said that, after meeting with Mayor Bob Sims and City Manager Andy McCuistion, they decided it would be better to go ahead and hold the election as scheduled instead of postponing it until November.
“After we talked about it, we just don’t know, it could be worse by then (November). It could be better; it could worse; we don’t know,” she said.
Robertson-Caraway said the sales tax has already been in place for several years and the May election is to reauthorize the sales tax for another four years.
“On the ballot, I have to use certain wording. I have to put ‘adoption of,’ but it’s already adopted. You have to reauthorize it every so many years. So we’re reauthorizing,” she said.
Robertson-Caraway said she wanted to put the word “reauthorizing” on the ballot, but the Comptroller’s Office advised her not to do that.
She said the current tax expires in September but that the Comptroller’s office was going allow the city to extend the current tax authorization until to December in order to postpone the election until November. But, City officials decided against that.
The city is currently working on setting up ways for people to vote and still keep it as safe as possible, Robertson-Caraway said. She said they may have only curbside voting, where people just pull in and pull out and they don’t have to get out of their cars. She said she’s trying to think of the best way possible to avoid contact between the voters and the election workers.
“I’m thinking on that and figuring out exactly how we’re going to do it,” she said.
The deadline to request a ballot by mail for the May election has already passed, and Robertson-Caraway said her office has started sending out the ballots by mail for voters who had requested one before the deadline. She said the city has to have those ballots mailed and postmarked by April 2.
If for some reason the situation changes and they decide the election needs to be postponed, Robertson-Caraway said the city commission will have to call a special meeting and vote to postpone it.
Click here for information on the May 2 Election.
Stephens County and State Runoff Election
The runoff primary election between David Fambro and Chad Ezell for the Republican nomination for Stephens County Commissioner, Precinct 1, has been postponed until July 14, with the rest of the state’s runoff elections, by Gov. Greg Abbott.
Abbott issued a proclamation on March 20, postponing the runoff primary election until July 14 — the same date as the special election for Texas State Senate District 14. The runoff election was originally scheduled for May 26, but has been postponed in conjunction with the state’s ongoing efforts to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, according to a news release by the governor’s office.
The postponement of the primary election serves to help fulfill the Governor’s recent executive orders mandating certain obligation for Texans that are aimed at slowing the spread of COVID-19, including the encouragement of social distancing.
Early voting for the postponed runoff primary election will begin Monday, July 6, 2020.
When the primary election votes were counted on March 3, no one candidate had more than 50 percent of the votes in the race for the Republican Party nominee for Stephens County Commissioner in Precinct 1. Fambro received 162 votes or 30.11 percent, and Ezell had 105 votes or 19.52 percent. Since no one had more than 50 percent of the votes in the primary, then the top two candidates will face off again in a runoff election.
