San Antonio Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones this week asked colleagues on City Council to consider permanently moving municipal elections from May to November, a move experts say could increase turnout while saving taxpayer money.
This past legislative session, the Texas legislature passed a bipartisan bill that allows municipal governments to shift elections to November. So far, several Texas cities have taken up the offer, including Dallas and the North Texas suburb of Mesquite.
“It is estimated, moving our May municipal election to November would save taxpayers approximately $1 million and increase overall voter turnout in those elections,” Jones wrote in a letter to the rest of council…