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With a 6 -to- 5 vote, the San Antonio City council passed the resolution to move the municipal elections from May to November.
This vote was presented to the city council last month after Mayor Jones learned that Dallas recently moved theirs. Cities throughout Texas began voting to move their municipal elections after Texas Lawmakers passed Senate Bill 1494 in June during their legislative session in Austin. The state gave cities until December 31 to make a change if their city council passed a resolution.
95-year-old labor leader and civil rights activist Dolores Huerta joined Mayor Jones and several voting advocacy organizations, such as the League of Women Voters, Move Texas, The Southwest Voter Registration Education Project, to make the case for moving the municipal elections from May to November.
“We are honored to welcome to San Antonio — let's just call it her second home — the honorable Dolores Huerta, because today is not just about the vote, right,” Jones said. “Today is about the long line of events, the long line of leaders, the long line of ways in which we can help ourselves as a community better ensure that we hear from our neighbors.”
Huerta is a leader of the Chicano civil rights movement and known for co-founding the United Farm Workers Union with Cesar Chavez in 1962.
She shared that her first job as an activist at 25 years old was to register people to vote. She said that experience taught her the importance of having people participate to vote.
“We have heard a lot of talk about democracy these days. We can think of how many millions of people have really given up their lives in our wars we have had to save democracy,” Huerta said. “And we have a moment here in the city of San Antonio where democracy is being highlighted, and where the city council members have an opportunity to show that they really do represent the people that elected them in order to have a proper representation.”
Jill Torbert, the president of the League of Women Voters of the San Antonio Area, or LWVSA, explained that the nonpartisan organization has been in San Antonio for 85 years. The league averages being at events four times a week to talk to voters and potential voters. She said they have noticed a low voter turnout during May because of other things that take priority in the city at the time like Fiesta, graduation, and Mother’s Day. However, those against the election date change were mostly concerned about local school districts which hold joint elections with the city in May. Torbert disagreed with that argument.
“This argument is absolutely moot. Recently, the city of San Antonio decided to extend Council terms to four years. This means that school boards are already left behind every four years, starting in 2027 also,” Torbert said. “Also, very importantly, school boards already take place in May of even numbered years, there are school board elections this coming May.”
Lydia Camarillo, the president of The Southwest Voter Registration Education Project, which is the largest and oldest Latino voter participation organization in the U.S., said the organization is ready to collaborate with school districts to help engage their stakeholders to move their election dates.
“It's important we understand that the school districts have time. Not only do they have time because they can move [their elections] whenever they want to, because this law, if you all pass, if the city council votes yes today, will not take effect until 2029 and therefore the school districts have time to make the change, not to mention that SB 3546 gives them the authority to move where they want to,” Camarillo said.
She used Edgewood School District as an example of a school district that has already moved their elections to an even year. She also used Dallas as an example to demonstrate the positive impact moving the municipal elections can have on a city.
“Dallas says they're saving almost half a million dollars by moving it, and we believe that that's going to be the case here,” Camarillo said. “The point is, whether it's half a million dollars, or $1 we're saving dollars, and we're making the elections more efficient and more effective.”
Because of the date change, current council members will be in office six-months longer than usual terms. The passing of this resolution will not take place until 2029.
