The Precinct 4 Bastrop County commissioner's seat will remain empty during the first Commissioners Court meeting following Bubba Snowden’s unexpected death last week.

Snowden, 73, who served as commissioner for Precinct 4, died Jan. 3, just three days into his third term in office. County Judge Paul Pape is expected to make an appointment to fill the vacant seat but said he has decided to wait a beat before naming Snowden's successor.

“We are confident of a quorum at Commissioner Court meetings, and the business of Precinct 4 continues with the leadership in place and assistance from every commissioner and other elected officials in the courthouse,” Pape told the Advertiser on Wednesday. “I think it appropriate to hold off on any public announcement regarding an appointment until after the next Commissioners Court meeting (on Monday). We want to honor Commissioner Snowden at that meeting for his dedicated service to the county.”

The judge is only limited to appointing someone who is eligible to hold a public office — the person can’t be a convicted felon, and they must be a U.S. citizen — and who has resided within the precinct for at least six months.

“There’s no necessary protocol for this. It’s just whoever the county judge wants to appoint is who gets appointed,” said District Attorney Bryan Goertz, who serves as the judge’s legal counsel.

Election laws in Texas allow a person to be appointed to serve in an elected office until the next election cycle — in this case, until November 2020 — when an election to fill the seat for the remainder of the term will be held. And unlike other officials elected during that cycle, the candidate elected to the vacant Precinct 4 seat can take office immediately after the election, as opposed to the other candidates who will take office in January.

Snowden’s mid-term death is not the first to have happened in Bastrop County in recent history, according to county records. In those cases, the deceased officeholder's spouse has been appointed to fill the seat until a successor is elected.

In 2011, Precinct 4 Commissioner Lee Dildy died while in office after 20 years of service. Former County Judge Ronnie McDonald appointed Dildy's wife, Vivian, to that post. In 2001, Precinct 2 Commissioner Tam McKeown was appointed to that seat after her husband Charles McKeown died. In 1989, Elaine Seidel took the Precinct 2 commissioner's seat after the death of her husband Robert Seidel. In 1985, when Precinct 2 Justice of the Peace O. B. Warnke died, his wife Katie Warnke was appointed to that seat. In 1964, the death of Precinct 1 Commissioner R. M. Wiley lead to the appointment of his wife Wilma Wiley.

“There’s a longstanding tradition around here, going back as far as I can remember. Oftentimes when a commissioner dies in office, they would appoint the widow,” Goertz said.

The appointment of the spouse of a deceased officeholder is common not just in Bastrop County, but across the state, according to Paul Miles, an attorney for the Texas Association of Counties.

“Politically, it’s common because there’s not battle over it, it’s respectful. It kind of kicks the can of the political fight down the road so the county judge doesn’t have to decide between rivals — that can be left to the election,” Miles said.

Pape has not said who he plans to appoint to Snowden's seat. Snowden’s widow, Donna, did not return a request for comment about whether she would be willing to fill in for her late husband.

State law does not impose a time limit for when Pape must make an appointment.