With concerns mounting about the new coronavirus, Brazoria and Galveston counties have postponed their May elections to a later date.

The Galveston County election division decided to move the May elections for all entities in the county, which includes the city of Friendswood and Friendswood ISD.

The city of Friendswood was not going to have an election for Friendswood City Council seats, as the two incumbents up for reelection ran unopposed, but the ballot did include a renewal of the city sales tax. If passed, additional sales tax revenue would be used to repair streets in Friendswood.

As the election division conducts elections for the municipalities in the county, the city cannot decide to hold the election, said Jeff Newpher, communication specialist for the city of Friendswood.

“The other option would be to hold our own local election, but that would be a huge task, especially in the situation we are in now,” Friendswood ISD Superintendent Thad Roher said.


Friendswood ISD’s election for a $128 million bond for district improvements has been postponed as well.

Brazoria County voted on March 24 to move all elections, including Pearland and Alvin ISDs' elections for their board of trustee positions. PISD did not hold a meeting to move the election, meaning it deferred to the county. PISD and AISD both have two trustee positions up for election, although one of AISD’s positions is uncontested.

“We came to a decision. It was a hard one, but it’s just unpredictable,” Brazoria County Election Director Lisa Mujica said.

According to Mujica, 15 entities in the county had voted to keep their elections in May.


The city of Pearland voted to move its election to November the night before the county chose to move all elections.

“I feel very strongly that holding this in three weeks is asking our voters ... it’s asking our volunteers, it’s asking the poll workers to play Russian roulette with their health and with their lives to choose to be a part of the democratic process to choose the leaders of this city,” Pearland City Council Member Luke Orlando said at the council meeting.