SAN ANTONIO – San Antonio Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones joined the KSAT Q&A on Tuesday and discussed her efforts to change the city’s municipal election date.
This year, San Antonio’s municipal election coincided with Fiesta festivities in May.
“When it’s voting versus NIOSA, NIOSA wins,” Jones said about Fiesta’s impact on the May 4 election, which led to a runoff in the mayoral race.
Jones said moving the election from May to November would increase voter turnout and save the city nearly $1 million.
“When you vote matters,” Jones said. “Voters associate voting with November.”
Former mayors Ron Nirenberg, Henry Cisneros, Julián Castro, Nelson Wolff and Phil Hardberger have also expressed their support for the election date change, the mayor said.
“If we do not move this, we will be the only big city in Texas that still has a municipal election in May,” Jones said.
The city council will discuss the municipal election on Wednesday.
Jones said that legislation requires the city to make this decision before the end of the year.