Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones
San Antonians will cast ballots for municipal elections in November of odd-numbered years — instead of May — beginning in 2029 after a fractured City Council approved the calendar change, a move championed by Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones.
The change means Jones and City Council’s 10 members will have six months tacked onto to their four-year terms.
Days before Thanksgiving, Jones began rallying supporters around her last-minute push to change city election dates. The effort is expected to save money and improve voter turnout, though it’s unclear how much of a benefit the shift will have on either front.
Under state law, the city had until Dec. 31 to shake up the calendar.
Jones has blamed city staff for the last-second scramble because they didn’t flag the legislation to City Council this summer. City Manager Erik Walsh has said it wasn’t highlighted because the council did not list it as a priority topic that they wanted regular updates about throughout the legislative cycle.
Dozens of advocates for the shift crowded into City Council Chambers on Thursday, many of them from voting rights groups and left-leaning advocacy organizations. For three hours, they urged council members to pass the change.
When it came time to vote, council’s usual progressive and conservative voting blocs split.
Citing a mix of concerns about lack of time for community input, doubts over how much the change could increase voter turnout and fears over potentially hurting local school districts, council members Sukh Kaur, Teri Castillo, Marina Alderete Gavito, Ivalis Meza Gonzalez and Marc Whyte all opposed the measure.
Council members Jalen McKee-Rodriguez, Phyllis Viagran, Ric Galvan, Edward Mungia and Misty Spears all sided with Jones.
Spears’ vote was the most surprising. She and Whyte — the only Republican council members on the dais — had been strong opponents of the adjustment in a discussion last week. Spears originally said she would prefer to move elections to November of even years, which has far higher turnout because residents show up in droves to cast ballots for president.
She said she’d still rather have even-year elections, but added that strong support for the move in her North Side district led her to vote “yes.”
“Moving elections from May to November puts municipal races in a time of year when voters are engaged, are informed and are in the habit of showing up,” Spears said. “I don’t think this is a perfect solution. We are under some serious constraints with Texas law. I do think this is a practical step in the right direction.”
After the meeting, Jones appeared open to exploring a move to even-year elections in the future.
See here for the background. Apparently, Houston used to have its elections in May; that was before my time. November of odd-numbered years isn’t exactly high tide for turnout, but the difference is still pretty significant – 19% in May on average versus 28% for November. Having them in November of even years would increase it further, but the argument that they would be buried under the noise of federal and state elections has merit. A city can do that if it wants, I’d just want to study it very carefully first. In the meantime, welcome to the norm, San Antonio. Far as I can tell, Dallas is the big laggard at this time. We’ll see about them. Texas Public Radio, the San Antonio Report, and the Current have more.