Consider authorizing the City Manager to negotiate and execute a Joint Election Agreement with Harris County for the City's Special Election to be held on November 3, 2026.

Staff Report & Agenda Item Details

This item authorizes the City Manager to negotiate and execute a Joint Election Agreement with Harris County for the City's Special to be held on November 3, 2026, for the purpose of for or against bond propositions.  The terms of the agreement are similar to those of past agreements and will include the following:<br><br>The County will be responsible for:<ul><li>voting equipment and supplies for early voting (EV) by personal appearance and mail; and for Election Day (ED);</li><li>polling places for EV and ED, election personnel and set-up of the polling places for EV and ED;</li><li>the appointment of the Early Voting Ballot Board and the employment of staff to program and operate the automatic tabulating equipment;</li><li>the establishment and organization of the Central Counting Station; and</li><li>the Compensation for the election workers, which will be reimbursed, in part, by the City.</li></ul><br>The City will be responsible for:<ul><li>furnishing the County with a list of race titles in four languages (English, Spanish, Vietnamese and Chinese - traditional);</li><li>furnishing the County with a list of candidate names;</li><li>verifying jurisdictional boundaries and streets;</li><li>preparing, posting and publishing any and all notices required by state law;</li><li>preparing election notices, orders and other election documents; and</li><li>canvassing election results.</li></ul><br>Approval of this item by the City Council will authorize not only the execution of a contract with Harris County, but also expenditures of up to $50,000 for the contracted election services.  The increase in costs from the last election is due to the required increase in polling places in order to comply with new election laws, which more than doubles the number of polling places from past elections. The election services costs will be paid out of the Fiscal Year 2027 Budget.