Moving San Antonio’s off-year municipal elections from May to November, which at first appeared to be a slam-dunk proposal from Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones, got a surprising amount of pushback at a Wednesday City Council session.
Indeed, the proposal has drawn endorsements from former mayors Henry Cisneros, Nelson Wolff, Phil Hardberger, Julián Castro and Ron Nirenberg.
Jones began the meeting by inviting Rice University political scientist Melissa Marschall to discuss research showing that shifting municipal elections to November increases voter turnout, saves money and draws low-income and younger voters who normally stay at home…