Citing a lack of uncontested races, the cities and school districts of Tomball and Magnolia have canceled 20 general elections since 2008.
Scheduled to hold elections May 5, Tomball City Council and Magnolia ISD canceled elections earlier this spring, allowing incumbents to retain their positions. Although city positions are uncontested in Magnolia, the city will host an election to reauthorize a tax funding road maintenance projects in May.
Steve Leakey, president of the Voter Awareness Council in Montgomery County, said he believes low voter turnout and uncontested races could indicate the electorate is apathetic to local political outcomes.
“People don’t vote or get mad at their politicians unless there’s a problem,” Leakey said. “I think the fact that people are disengaged is a significant part of [low turnout], or [they are] just plain not involved in politics.”
However, Leakey said many residents may not understand the importance of local elections, including the primaries.
“A very real part in Montgomery County—and Texas in general—is people don’t understand the importance of primaries. They think the only time they need to vote is in November or May,” Leakey said. “The May election turnout is pathetic.”
Trail of unopposed contests
Over the last decade, elected officials in Tomball and Magnolia have continued to serve on city councils with little or no challenge from opponents.
No one has challenged any Tomball City Council incumbents in six years, according to city information. Additionally, many Tomball elected officials have served for nearly 10 years, including Mayor Gretchen Fagan and council members Mark Stoll and Derek Townsend Sr.
Tomball voters selected Fagan as mayor in 2007, according to city election data. In a tight race, Fagan—a council member—defeated Diane Holland, a former council member, by 50 votes. Twenty-three percent of registered voters participated in the race, the highest turnout since on record for a city election.
Overall, voter participation in Tomball has increased since a low point of 1.1 percent turnout for a May 2000 election. Since then, the city has averaged about 12 percent turnout for May elections, including a 2014 election for the city’s charter amendments.
In the city’s last contested race in 2012, voters selected council members Stoll and Townsend, according to the city’s election data. Both will retain their seats this May due to unopposed races, which also occurred in 2015.
Each time the city of Tomball holds an election, the city spends between $9,000 and $18,000, City Secretary Doris Speer said. Even when canceled, the city still pays for some election-related expenses like pre-election preparation costs. Meanwhile, Magnolia averages about $8,000 in election expenses each time an election is held, City Secretary Lynne George said.
Magnolia City Administrator Paul Mendes said elected officials in Magnolia also often run unopposed, yielding low voter turnout. Magnolia Mayor Todd Kana was elected in 2010 and has faced no opponents since, according to Montgomery County election data. In the city’s last contested race in 2016, incumbent Brenda Hoppe defeated Jim Massey in a race in which only 93 votes were cast.
“Ever since Mayor Kana has been in office, there hasn’t been too much emotion, shall we say, in the elections,” Mendes said. “We’ve hardly even had competition for a position in the last eight years he’s been a mayor.”
Voter turnout tipped to 30 percent—the highest on record—in the 2010 mayoral race but dropped to 8 percent in the city’s last contested race in 2016. However, the number of registered voters increased by more than 250 over the six-year period, according to county data.
Kana, along with council members Hoppe and Jonny Williams, will retain their respective seats this May.
“[Mayor Kana’s leadership] has gone very smooth and very well,” Mendes said. “We’ve had a number of uncontested elections, and that speaks very highly for council.”
School districts cancel elections
MISD follows the trend of repeated canceled local elections. The district has canceled seven elections since 2008, district officials said. Incumbent trustees Travis Moffatt and Chuck Adcox will retain their seats, as the district canceled its May 5 election.
MISD Director of Communication Denise Meyers said the district offers parent and student leadership programs that introduce the roles and responsibilities of the board and encourage civic engagement, although board elections have been canceled multiple times due to lack of candidate interest.
“The school board has shared with the students the importance of using their talents, skills and knowledge through leadership roles either in the community or in their schools and model servant leadership,” she said.
Tomball ISD has canceled two of its five elections over the last decade—in November 2008 and 2012, TISD officials said. TISD may hold an election Nov. 6 for positions held by trustees Michael Pratt, Kathy Handler, John McStravick, Mark Lewandowski and Lee McLeod.
District officials in Magnolia and Tomball said voter turnout for board of trustees elections has historically been low. To hold an election, MISD officials said the district spends about $40,000. TISD officials said the district budgets about $80,000 for an election.
May elections
While all races are uncontested locally for the May 5 election, Magnolia city residents will vote on a proposition to reauthorize a sales and use tax of one-fourth of 1 cent for maintenance and repair of municipal streets, in accordance to House Bill 445 passed by the Texas Legislature in 2001. Every few years, the voters must vote to allow the city to continue to collect funds from the city’s 4B Community Development Corp., Mendes said.
“The state requires that every so many years you have to basically review the HB 445 and vote for it to keep it,” Mendes said. “Otherwise, the money would go back to the 4B Corporation as opposed to being held out just specifically for roads.”
In addition to the city’s May 5 election, Magnolia-area residents may vote in a Republican primary runoff election May 22 for Montgomery County Precinct 2 commissioner. Incumbent Charlie Riley will face challenger Greg Parker.
Tomball-area residents may also vote in the May 22 Democratic runoff election for U.S. District 10 representative, featuring candidates Mike Siegel and Tawana Walter-Cadien.
Leakey said it is crucial residents vote in primary elections, particularly in one-party areas like Montgomery County.
“[Voters] do not understand that in a largely one-party state—and certainly we are definitely a one-party county—the primary is the election,” he said. “We have just experienced that. I think a lot of people are unfamiliar with local politics, so they don’t understand the importance of the primaries.”
In the March primary elections, 18 percent of Montgomery County voters cast a ballot—down from nearly 36 percent in 2016. In Harris County, 11 percent of voters cast a ballot this March for multiple local positions, according to election data.
“There’s a classic argument that all real politics is local,” Leakey said. “All real—being things that affect you and me on a daily basis—[politics] are done by local officials.”
Additional reporting by Anna Dembowski