Move city elections to November

APRIL 30, 2021 — Editor’s note: This op-ed by Walter Clark Wilson, associate professor of political science at UTSA, originally appeared in the San Antonio Express-News.

Too many Texans are voting.

That’s what Republican leaders appear to think after record turnout last November. To combat this threat to their political viability, the Republican-controlled Senate passed SB 7 to prohibit a host of actions local election officials took in 2020 to make voting safer and less burdensome.

“That such an important election received so little participation is appalling, but also understandable.”

Provisions include banning officials from extending early voting hours beyond 12 per day, offering drive-thru polling places and proactively distributing absentee ballot applications. The bill would also bar the most populous counties from offering countywide voting while allowing partisan poll watchers to film voters inside polling places.

Republicans know that in poorer communities, the provisions of SB 7 would make many people who are older, have health conditions, work inconvenient schedules or have reasonable expectations for privacy and security at the polls decide that voting is simply not worth it. They also know such individuals tend to be Black or Latino and vote for Democrats.

While legislative efforts to conjure an unrepresentative electorate by suppressing those most in need of representation are upsetting, in terms of suppressive impact, they fall far short of San Antonio’s practice of holding municipal elections in May of odd-numbered years. These low-turnout affairs sustain a political status quo that empowers special interests and leaves most San Antonians poorly represented. Municipal elections should be moved to coincide with federal elections in November.

The 2019 election for San Antonio mayor was the closest and most bitterly contested in recent memory. The fierce competition drove record turnout for a municipal race in the June runoff — 15.43 percent. Just 121,033 of the city’s registered voters participated in a race Mayor Ron Nirenberg won by 2,690 votes. Five and a half times as many San Antonio voters — 663,115 total — did not participate.

That such an important election received so little participation is appalling, but also understandable. Participation is highest when election information is most salient. In presidential election years, one cannot escape election coverage and people engage as a result. Turnout drops off substantially in lower profile midterm elections and bottoms out in elections not held in November of even-numbered years. The electorates for primaries and local elections are older, wealthier, whiter and far more partisan than the electorate in general elections.

The dismal participation in our municipal elections provides a poor basis for claiming a political mandate — and for securing effective government and representation. Instead, it creates an environment where the special interests of the wealthy can thrive — often at the expense of poorer neighbors — and where meaningful change to status quo policy is more difficult to secure. It is no surprise, then, that for all its charms, San Antonio languishes behind many other cities in terms of equity, infrastructure, amenities and opportunity.

On a host of issues that affect the lives of everyone in San Antonio, special interests get their way and leave residents holding the bag. Big-box stores avoid paying their fair share of property taxes. Revenue-generating properties receive massive tax breaks. Big developers bulldoze heritage oaks without consequence. San Antonians make up the difference in lost revenues with higher property and sales taxes, suffer through worsening urban heat and deal with neglected infrastructure. A city government empowered by — and accountable to — a larger share of the city’s voters would have more clout to push back in service of the public interest.

Decisions on ballot propositions — like those being considered this May — only increase the urgency to move municipal elections to November.

Ballot propositions can provide meaningful public empowerment, but in the context of low-turnout elections, they tend to serve the special interests of a few. In May 2015, for example, 53,745 San Antonians voted to force any future decisions about rail infrastructure before voters. That decision, made by a few, will severely limit the city’s ability to deal with transportation problems. This May, a small minority of San Antonians will decide whether to address problems with police accountability by withdrawing the police union’s right to bargain collectively. Surely, the public deserves a greater voice on decisions as important as these. When it comes to municipal elections, not enough San Antonians are voting.