Two May Election Days: Your Dallas County Voting Guide

Dallas County voters face two separate trips to the polls this May, with a Saturday municipal election on May 2 and a primary runoff on May 26 covering everything from a $6.2 billion school bond to county judge races.

The split schedule catches people off guard every cycle. Many Preston Hollow and Park Cities residents will have a stake in both dates, though the ballots look nothing alike.

The May 2 election is a joint and special election for Dallas County municipalities. Voters inside Dallas ISD boundaries will weigh in on the $6.2 billion bond package, which would fund school construction and renovations across the district. Residents in DISD trustee districts 2 and 6 also choose a board member. Voters in the Park Cities, meanwhile, face a different question entirely: whether to exit DART and give up its transit services. That’s not a trivial decision for communities that have watched transit-oriented development reshape property values along the rail corridor for two decades.

Then comes May 26, the primary runoff. That’s when Dallas County Republicans and Democrats finalize their nominees for county, state and federal offices ahead of the Tuesday, Nov. 3 general election.

Worth knowing: you can vote at any Dallas County vote center during each election cycle, not just the one nearest your home. That flexibility matters, and the March 3 primary showed why its absence caused real damage. More than 12,000 voters showed up to vote centers and found they were in the wrong place, according to Dallas Free Press coverage of the fallout. Dallas County Republican Chairman Allen West had pushed precinct-based voting for that primary, then agreed to return to countywide vote centers for the May 26 runoff, citing concerns about “increased risk and voter confusion,” he said. West resigned shortly afterward.

The story didn’t end there. The Dallas County Republican Party then sued the county elections department, trying to reverse their former chair’s agreement and reinstate precinct-based voting for the runoff. That lawsuit now sits before the Texas Fifth District Court of Appeals, which means the final rules for May 26 could shift before early voting starts.

On the bond question, Dallas ISD built a property-value calculator that lets residents see their personal tax impact. Homeowners can slide between $250,000 and $950,000 in assessed value to find out what the bond would cost them annually. It’s a rare piece of transparency from a large urban school district, and voters who own homes on Strait Lane or near Preston Hollow Elementary should take five minutes to run their numbers before May 2.

For voters who haven’t confirmed their registration, Dallas Free Press maintains a voter guide with registration verification tools, sample ballots and early voting locations across the county.

The two-election structure isn’t new, but it reliably generates confusion in high-turnout neighborhoods where residents assume one trip to the polls covers everything. It doesn’t. A voter who goes to the polls on May 2 and checks the box has still not participated in the May 26 runoff, which will determine which candidates from both parties appear on the November ballot.

Early voting for the May 2 election runs through April 28, so the window is narrow. Early voting for the May 26 runoff opens May 18 and runs through May 22. Voters can check current vote center hours and locations through the Dallas County Elections Department, which posts updates as they become available.

Both elections carry real consequence for Preston Hollow and the Park Cities. The bond vote shapes which neighborhood schools get rebuilt in the next decade. The primary runoff sets the field for county judge, district attorney and other countywide races that directly govern everything from property tax appeals to how Dallas County prosecutes crime. Getting both dates on the calendar now is the move.