San Antonio is barreling toward one of its most consequential city elections in quite some time, but so far turnout hasn’t indicated much voter enthusiasm.
As of Wednesday morning, the elections administration reported that it has received a total of 65,500 in-person and mail San Antonio ballots — less than 8% of the city’s roughly 837,000 registered voters.
Early voting ended Tuesday with in-person votes down about 30% from 2023, according to data compiled by San Antonio political data analyst Bert Santibañez, who said the “dramatically low” turnout puts the fast-growing city on track to cast fewer votes this year than it did a decade ago.
Election day is Saturday, May 3, and election day polling sites will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
San Antonio is choosing a new mayor for the first time in eight years, and 10 City Council races will be on the ballot as well.
The 2025 election is also the last time voters will be asked to weigh in on their city’s leadership until 2029 — thanks to new four-year terms that will take effect this year.
Read about every candidate on the May 3 ballot San Antonio Report’s 2025 Voter Guide.
Download a copy of your personal sample ballot to see what races and ballot measures you’ll be asked to weigh in on before heading to the polls.
A crowded, confusing election
For the first time in San Antonio’s history, Saturday’s municipal election will coincide with major Fiesta events like the Flambeau Parade downtown and the King William Fair.
And despite many high-profile races on the ballot, some political strategists warned going into this election that San Antonio’s unusually crowded ballot could discourage voters from participating.
The mayoral race alone has an overwhelming 27 candidates running, thanks in part to the city’s relatively low bar to get on the ballot.
“Someone who works 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., [maybe has] two jobs, has kids, they’re going to sit here and try to figure out, ‘Who are these 27 people I’m supposed to vote for?’ It’s too much,” longtime San Antonio political strategist Laura Barberena said in a February interview. “People are discouraged from participating because they don’t feel they’re qualified to make that decision.”
The large number of candidates means San Antonio’s mayoral race is also almost certain to go to a June 7 runoff between the top two vote-getters on May 3.
Recent San Antonio municipal election turnout was at its highest in 2021, when Mayor Ron Nirenberg easily won a rematch with conservative former Councilman Greg Brockhouse, who had sent him to a runoff in 2019. About 17% of the city’s registered voters turned out in 2021, compared to about 12% in 2019.
In the 2023 municipal election, Nirenberg didn’t face a serious reelection threat and voter turnout was at about 15%.
This year San Antonio’s ballot doesn’t include the type of divisive ballot initiatives that drove turnout in previous local elections, such as 2023’s Proposition A, and 2021’s Proposition B, which were both aimed at police reform.
“2021 and 2023 were outlier elections because of expensive and contentious ballot propositions,” said San Antonio political strategist Kelton Morgan. “2025 looks much more like 2015, 2017 or 2019 which were very typical, contested San Antonio mayoral elections.”
The city and county have each set goals of increasing voter turnout, and Carew said she’d hoped to see it close to 18% across Bexar County, where eight school districts, suburban municipalities and the Alamo College District all have measures on the May 3 ballot.
In an April 24 interview at her office, however, Bexar County Elections Administrator Michele Carew said that the county was on track for lower than that.
“I am not a fortune teller, but I can read between the lines right now,” she said.
Not only was in-person early voter turnout down, she said, but mail ballot requests for this election were surprisingly low.
“We had about 2,000 requests, compared to the November election, where they had tens of thousands,” Carew said. “This election just didn’t have as much interest.”
