{"id":193351,"date":"2026-03-06T14:23:26","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T14:23:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/193351\/"},"modified":"2026-03-06T14:23:26","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T14:23:26","slug":"mayor-proposes-voting-commission-after-municipal-election-move","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/193351\/","title":{"rendered":"Mayor proposes voting commission after municipal election move"},"content":{"rendered":"

Months after narrowly securing a 6\u20135 vote to move San Antonio\u2019s municipal elections from May to November<\/a>, Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones is proposing a new initiative aimed at boosting voter participation.<\/p>\n

Standing on the steps of City Hall last Friday, Jones announced plans to establish the Mayor\u2019s Commission on Voting \u2014 a nonpartisan advisory body focused on increasing voter engagement across the city.<\/p>\n

\u201cVoting is the mark of a citizen. It is a cherished right and it\u2019s a right that is under attack,\u201d Jones said. \u201cWe must do more to increase voter engagement in our community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joining Jones were leaders from several nonpartisan civic organizations, including the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project, the League of Women Voters of San Antonio, MOVE Texas and Radical Registrars.<\/p>\n

Jill Torbert, president of the League of Women Voters of San Antonio, said the proposal signals the city\u2019s commitment to prioritize turnout.<\/p>\n

\"\"Jill Torbert, president of the League of Women Voters of San Antonio, spoke in support of the mayor\u2019s proposal Friday. Credit: Diego Medel \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n

\u201cBy recommending a commission on voting, Mayor Jones is saying that voting is important,\u201d Torbert said. \u201cAnd that San Antonio is going to make improving voter turnout a priority. We hope that the City Council will stand behind this initiative.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pending council approval, the commission would include three appointees selected by the mayor and one appointee from each of the city\u2019s 10 council districts. Jones said she hopes to have the body in place by April 3.<\/p>\n

The announcement came on the final day of early voting ahead of the March 3 primary election.<\/p>\n

Building on November win<\/p>\n

The proposal follows one of Jones\u2019 most closely watched policy wins: moving San Antonio\u2019s municipal elections to November of odd-numbered years<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Approved in December after a lengthy and at times tense debate, the changes moved the next mayoral and City Council elections to take place in November 2029 instead of May of that year. Supporters argued the shift would increase turnout by aligning local races with higher-profile November ballots.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Research presented to council during the debate showed that mayoral elections held in May average about 19% turnout nationwide, compared with roughly 28% for November odd-year elections.<\/p>\n

Jones describes the proposed commission as the next phase of that effort.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m proud of our efforts, in large part to many of the folks back here to move the municipal elections from May to November, a move that will save our city money and increase turnout,\u201d she said, referring to the civic leaders standing behind her. \u201cWe must do more to help ourselves, and that is what the mayor\u2019s commission on voting will aim to do as envisioned.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones announced plans to establish the Mayor\u2019s Commission on Voting \u2014 a nonpartisan advisory body focused on increasing voter engagement across the city on Feb. 27, 2026. Credit: Diego Medel \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n

She said the commission would focus on outreach and identifying barriers that may still prevent residents from participating \u2014 whether they are longtime voters or residents who have never cast a ballot.<\/p>\n

The commission would be advisory in nature and would examine voter turnout, civic education and engagement across all elections \u2014 municipal, state and federal \u2014 as well as bond elections.<\/p>\n

County voter engagement committee \u2018has never met\u2019<\/p>\n

Because election administration in Texas is handled at the county level, Jones said the city commission would work jointly with the county to influence voter access.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe actually partner with the county on elections, and so we can certainly provide our feedback as we are providing our money,\u201d she said, pointing to issues such as polling locations and hours as issues that could enhance accessibility for voters.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She added that the city could help identify gaps affecting residents who work nontraditional hours, including shift workers.<\/p>\n

When asked why the city and county did not form a joint commission, Jones said collaboration remains possible but emphasized the need to get started.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s nothing that prevents that, right?\u201d Jones said.\u201d I think it\u2019s important, though, that we get moving and so the city can lean forward, and that\u2019s what we\u2019re doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The proposed commission comes as Bexar County officials are reviewing their own advisory bodies.<\/p>\n

\"\"Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones shakes hands with civic leaders after announcing her plans to establish the Mayor\u2019s Commission on Voting \u2014 a nonpartisan advisory body focused on increasing voter engagement across the city. Credit: Diego Medel \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n

At Commissioners Court earlier this month, members discussed the county\u2019s Elections and Voter Engagement Advisory Committee \u2014 created in 2020 for advising on pandemic-era changes to voting procedures \u2014 as Precinct 4 Commissioner Tommy Calvert moved to appoint a new member.<\/p>\n

Similar to the mayor\u2019s proposal, Precinct 2 Commissioner Justin Rodriguez said the committee was intended to provide citizen input on transparency and accessibility in the elections process.<\/p>\n

But Precinct 3 Commissioner Grant Moody said that despite appointments being made, the committee \u201chas never met\u201d since it was formed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to have this conversation between ourselves as the court and between county staff in terms of who owns these committees and who ensures that they\u2019re meeting,\u201d he said. \u201dWe want to have engagement, we want to have people serve but if we ask people to serve on a committee and then they never meet, it leaves a bad taste in their mouth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moody asked County Manager David Smith about oversight and accountability for advisory boards.<\/p>\n

Smith said county staff are compiling a full list of boards, task forces and advisory groups created over the years \u2014 some of which may have been inactive for a decade or more.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to be assigning specific staff to be monitoring and coordinating agenda postings, making sure that appointments to the committees haven\u2019t expired,\u201d he said.\u201dSo that you all can, from a policy level, deal with, well, do we need this committee? Does it need to be bigger or smaller?\u201d<\/p>\n

The scale of the review, Smith added, has proven larger than expected.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs far as I\u2019ve been here 30 years, nothing to this extent has been undertaken at a countywide level,\u201d he said. \u201cThe list of community committees we\u2019re finding that theoretically still exist and probably haven\u2019t for years, even a decade or more, is far more extensive than initially thought.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile at the city, Jones\u2019 proposal now heads to City Council, where members will consider an implementing ordinance outlining the commission\u2019s structure and responsibilities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Months after narrowly securing a 6\u20135 vote to move San Antonio\u2019s municipal elections from May to November, Mayor…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":193352,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[698,3084,76655,50124,288,76656,76657,4041,76658,61173,3239,76659,39586,10233,76660,82,84,83,76661,76662,4044,92,3028,3440],"class_list":{"0":"post-193351","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-antonio","8":"tag-bexar-county","9":"tag-city-hall","10":"tag-council-districts","11":"tag-david-smith","12":"tag-elections","13":"tag-elections-and-voter-engagement-advisory-committee","14":"tag-general-elections","15":"tag-grant-moody","16":"tag-jill-torbert","17":"tag-justin-rodriguez","18":"tag-mayor-gina-ortiz-jones","19":"tag-move-texas","20":"tag-municipal-elections","21":"tag-primary-election","22":"tag-radicial-registrars","23":"tag-san-antonio","24":"tag-san-antonio-headlines","25":"tag-san-antonio-news","26":"tag-southwest-voter-registration-education-project","27":"tag-the-league-of-women-voters-of-san-antonio","28":"tag-tommy-calvert","29":"tag-top-story","30":"tag-typedaily","31":"tag-wc-1000-1500"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193351","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=193351"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193351\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/193352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=193351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=193351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=193351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}