Killeen Voters Decide Today on Eight Charter Changes, Including New Limits on Recalls

Election Day preview: Killeen voters decide today, Tuesday, Nov. 3, on eight changes to the city charter. Five of them change the rules for recalling a council member or putting an ordinance forward by citizen petition. Polls are open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

The City Council called the election by Ordinance 26-030, passed Aug. 4, 2026. A staff memo attached to the ordinance says the council created a charter review committee on Jan. 20, 2026, and that the council reviewed all eleven of its recommendations before settling on these eight. The memo says the charter was first adopted in 1949, was last amended in 2022 and can only be amended every two years.

Recall and petitions

The city's voter guide lays out what each proposition would do. Today, it says, a resident may seek to recall any elected official for any reason, and the charter does not require a specific reason to start.

• Proposition F would limit the grounds for recall to incompetency, official misconduct or malfeasance in office, and require the person filing to state enough facts to support the charge.

• Proposition G would give the city secretary five business days, instead of one, to hand out recall petition blanks after an affidavit is filed.

• Proposition H would let only a voter who lives in a district file a recall affidavit against that district's council member. The guide says any city voter can file one now, though only district residents may sign the petition or vote in the recall.

• Proposition D would give city staff 30 days instead of 10 to certify an initiative or referendum petition, and give petitioners 30 days instead of 10 to fix a deficient one.

• Proposition E would bar the council from adopting, or sending to voters, any citizen-initiated ordinance found inconsistent with state law.

Elections and vacancies

Proposition A would move elections for mayor and all council seats to November of odd-numbered years. The guide says the council already voted in December 2025 to move regular elections to November starting in 2027. The city's election notice says holding a general election every other year instead of every year would save $81,998.44 in even-numbered years, the cost of the last general election.

Proposition B would repeal the rule that a council member must resign when filing to run for mayor, or the mayor when filing to run for a council seat.

Proposition C would have the council fill every vacancy by majority vote of the remaining members, no matter when it occurs. Today, according to the guide, two or more vacancies at once must be filled by special election. A special election would still be used if the council lost a quorum.

How to vote today

The election is run by the Bell County Elections Department, and the city's election page notes City Hall is no longer a polling place. Bell County's Election Day locations page lists today's hours as 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. and says voters can vote at any voting site in the county. The ballot and election materials are in English and Spanish.

For more from Killeen, read about the new city manager's contract and the tiny homes and backyard ADU plan.

Our view

Some of these changes are sensible housekeeping, and fewer elections cost less. But recall and initiative are the people's tools, not the council's. When the folks who would be recalled write the new rules for recall, voters ought to read every line. A recall should never be used for spite, yet citizens should not need a lawyer to hold their own officials to account. Weigh each proposition on its own.