So far about 8% of the 753,736 registered San Antonio voters have cast votes in the runoff election that will decide who will lead the city for the next two years. From May 30 through Tuesday, June 6, just over 60,535 people took advantage of the early voting period – that’s 8,444 less than in the general election on May 6 that included County-wide ballot items and more districts voting for Council representatives.
During the 2015 mayoral runoff, 305 fewer voters showed up to the polls during early voting. All told, 14.5% of registered voters turned out for the runoff in which Ivy Taylor was elected mayor. Only about 13%-15% of registered voters are expected to turn out for this one.
During early voting, citizens may vote at any polling site, and polls remained open until 8 p.m. Tuesday evening. On June 10, voters must cast their ballots at the assigned polling location for their precinct. Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on June 10. For election day voting locations, click here. For information on required voter identification at the polls, click here.
Early voting participation seemed to be concentrated on the city’s Northside, a pattern consistent with past municipal elections, according to totals posted by the Bexar County Elections Department.
Taylor and Councilman Ron Nirenberg (D8) are in what appears to be a tight race for mayor. Voters in City Council districts 1 and 2 also have incumbents on their ballots. Districts 6, 8, 9, and 10 will have fresh faces on the Council dais come inauguration day on June 21.
Registered voters who did not vote in May can still cast a vote in the runoff election. Visit the Elections Department’s website for more information.
Less than five percentage points separated Taylor and Nirenberg in the general election, for which there was a field of 14 candidates. Taylor received 42% of the vote while Nirenberg finished with 37%. Both candidates seek to win over third-place candidate and Bexar County Democratic Chairman Manuel Medina’s 15% share of the vote and inspire more voters to come out to the polls.
While all races feature candidates that are passionately vying for voter support, the most interesting Council race has been District 2. Less than two weeks ago, Councilman Alan Warrick passed out on a bench outside City Hall after drinking in a downtown bar. He first told people he was drugged, then retracted those claims by the end of the weekend. His opponent, William “Cruz” Shaw, has called for his resignation. Warrick won 41% of the vote in May, and Shaw received 29%.
District 1 incumbent Roberto Treviño faces challenger Michael Montaño. Treviño claimed almost 49% of the May 6 vote, falling just 113 votes shy of winning the May 6 election outright in a field of six candidates. Montaño trailed with 32%.
Political consultant Greg Brockhouse and attorney Melissa Cabello Havrda are hoping to secure the District 6 seat left open by outgoing Councilman Ray Lopez. Brockhouse got 36% of the vote in May, ahead of Havrda’s 21%.
In the fight for the District 8 seat that Nirenberg is leaving to run for mayor, candidate Cynthia Brehm secured 33%, while Manny Pelaez claimed 27% of the vote.
In District 9, Marco Barros and John Courage are competing for win Joe Krier’s seat. Barros secured 3,616 votes, good for 24%, and Courage finished with 3,281 or 22%.
The candidates vying for District 10 Councilman Mike Gallagher’s seat, Ezra Johnson and Clayton Perry, were only 18 votes apart in the first round of voting: Johnson received 2,733 votes versus Perry’s 2,715.
Krier and Gallagher chose not to seek re-election.
To read more about the election, check out the Rivard Report‘s 2017 election archive here.
Did you see the number of and location of the early voting locations? It’s pathetic. It’s like the county wants low voter turnout. The 4 closest locations are all 15 minutes from my house, in good traffic. Forget voter ID laws or a poll tax, the way to discourage participation is a lack of polling locations and being open during work hours, only.
If someone wants to vote but “can’t make it to the polls” in San Antonio, they are lazy, not disenfranchised.
Exactly. Voter apathy only goes so far to explain the dismal voting rates in Texas. The systemic challenges to voting, even for motivated voters are unconscionable.
The alternative is opening up more sites at a substantially higher cost to the county. I live in District 2 and only 66 of 81 precincts even had people vote on election day when the number of sites climbed dramatically. That’s 15 locations where the county paid workers and nobody showed up.
As long as this current idiot Ivy is out of office, we will be good. She is such a snake.