{"id":406538,"date":"2025-11-26T18:17:20","date_gmt":"2025-11-26T18:17:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/406538\/"},"modified":"2025-11-26T18:17:20","modified_gmt":"2025-11-26T18:17:20","slug":"san-antonio-mayor-gina-ortiz-jones-pushes-council-to-move-municipal-elections-to-november","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/406538\/","title":{"rendered":"San Antonio Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones pushes council to move municipal elections to November"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"GinaSan Antonio Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones said another opportunity to move municipal elections may not arise if council doesn\u2019t act by Dec. 31. Credit: Public Domain \/ U.S. Air Force<\/p>\n

San Antonio Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones this week asked colleagues on City Council to consider permanently moving municipal elections from May to November, a move experts say could increase turnout while saving taxpayer money.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This past legislative session, the Texas legislature passed a bipartisan bill that allows municipal governments to shift elections to November. So far, several Texas cities have taken up the offer, including Dallas and the North Texas suburb of Mesquite.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is estimated, moving our May municipal election to November would save taxpayers approximately $1 million and increase overall voter turnout in those elections,\u201d Jones wrote in a letter to the rest of council.\u00a0<\/p>\n

To bolster her argument, Jones provided commentary from Melissa Marschall, Rice University political scientist specializing in local elections, and Zoltan Hajnal, a quantitative social scientist at the University of California, San Diego.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cTurnout doubled there after Mesquite moved local elections from May to November,\u201d Marschall and Hajnal wrote in their commentary. \u201cNationwide research also indicates that a move from May to November could double turnout, and numbers for Houston and the other Texas cities that hold November elections are in the same ballpark.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marschall and Hajnal also noted that moving municipal elections to November allows lower-income, working and middle-class voters a greater opportunity to participate in local politics. Research by the pair shows that higher turnout among elderly or well-off voters often skews May elections.<\/p>\n

City Council has until Dec. 31 to move the date of municipal elections.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we as a council do not approve moving the election to November, we lose the opportunity to do so absent another change to the legislation, which is not a given in the foreseeable future,\u201d Jones wrote.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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