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Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones speaks during a District 7 town hall meeting Monday evening at the Garza Community Center.<\/p>\n
Robin Jerstad\/Contributor<\/p>\n
City Council members are pumping the brakes on\u00a0Mayor Gina\u00a0Ortiz Jones’ effort<\/a> to establish a commission to improve San Antonio\u2019s often abysmal voter turnout.\u00a0<\/p>\n Jones announced in February that she wanted to create a Mayor\u2019s Commission on Voting to get more San Antonians to the ballot box.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n On Thursday, council members were supposed to vote on creating the commission. Instead, they voted 9-2 to slow it down with a briefing on the plan in April or May before it returns for a vote.<\/p>\n Council members said they wanted more time to consider her proposal and a potential deadline to sunset the group, though Jones said she wanted the commission to run indefinitely.\u00a0<\/p>\n The debate was muted and quick, lasting only 20 minutes. But it was clearly\u00a0a setback for a mayor who’s had a lot of them in her dealings with council.<\/p>\n The commission would advise City Council on how to increase voter participation. Jones had wanted the group to submit a report to the City Council by July 4 with recommendations, according to a draft ordinance outlining how the group would function. The commission would meet biannually after it submits its July report to review and potentially adjust its recommendations.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The commission would have 13 members, with three appointed by Jones and the rest by council members.\u00a0<\/p>\n Jones sees the commission as a way to respond to legislation being debated at the federal level that could make it harder for people to vote.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThese are very challenging things for us to grapple with as a country, which I think really calls upon us at the local level to identify ways in which we can hear from our and protect our community, and ensure that they\u2019re heard at the ballot box,\u201d Jones said.\u00a0<\/p>\n City Council was originally slated to approve the item on its consent agenda, a lengthy list of usually noncontroversial matters that often sail through without debate. But District 1 Councilwoman\u00a0Sukh Kaur yanked the item from the consent agenda and called for a briefing on the proposed commission, not a vote.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n She stayed quiet during the ensuing discussion.<\/p>\n In a statement after the meeting, she said she pulled the item to \u201censure that Council has the opportunity to provide input on the committee that would address this critically important issue of voter turnout.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n