Frisco's scheduled May election could soon be pushed back amid concerns of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Mayor Jeff Cheney said Frisco City Council will consider a postponement of the May 2 municipal election during its special March 27 meeting.
“The counties that we contract through had indicated that they were not comfortable administering the election, and if we wanted to continue it, then the city would actually have to put on their own election,” Cheney said.
Frisco elections are generally held through joint agreements with the Collin County and Denton County election administrators. With the city currently under a stay-at-home order and concerns about the novel coronavirus continuing, Cheney said council thought it appropriate to consider a postponement.
In addition to a pair of contested races for the council, the election would also have one contested race for the Frisco ISD Board of Trustees. Frisco ISD staff said the board is expected to consider a postponement of its election during its planned April 7 meeting as well, but the final agenda for that meeting has not yet been set.
On March 18, Gov. Greg Abbott released a proclamation encouraging upcoming elections to be suspended until Nov. 3 in Texas. He also ordered the state's primary runoff election be postponed from May 26 to July 14.
"Right now, the state's focus is responding to COVID-19 — including social distancing and avoiding large gatherings. By delaying this election, our local election officials can assist in that effort,” Abbott said.
The governor has suspended multiple Texas codes, allowing for political subdivisions to delay their elections.
The agenda for the Frisco City Council's March 27 meeting states the new election date to be considered is Nov. 3.
With council Place 5 incumbent Tim Nelson reaching his term limit this year, seven candidates filed to run for his open seat in the upcoming election. Rob Cox, Hava Johnston, Ram Majji, Josh Meek, Ruan Meintjes, Laura Rummel and Dan Stricklin will all appear on the ballot for the Place 5 seat.
Place 6 incumbent Brian Livingston drew two challengers in his bid to serve a second term on the council. Votes will choose from among Livingston, Sadaf Haq and Sai Krishna in the election.
Frisco’s mayor position was also up for re-election this year, but Cheney drew no opponents during the filing period earlier this year.
On the FISD board, Debbie Gillespie also was unopposed in her re-election bid for the Place 5 seat. The only other FISD board seat up for election, the Place 4 position, saw four candidates file to run after incumbent Anne McCausland announced she would not seek re-election. Dynette A. Davis, Sean Heatley, Muni Janagarajan and Amit Kalra are each seeking election to that board post.
In addition to the vote to postpone the May 2 election, council will also consider an ordinance during its March 27 special meeting that would once again amend the declaration of local disaster for public health emergency. That ordinance was previously amended by council on March 20.
