You.

Picture this.

It's November 5th.

You're walking into the voting booth.

Do you have a plan, or are you drawing a blank?

I'm Andrea, government and politics reporter for the San Antonio Report.

And this is our live voter guide experience, brought to you by two of your most trusted nonprofit, nonpartisan newsrooms in San Antonio.

KLRN and the San Antonio Report.

What we're not going to do in this special segment is tell you who to vote for, that you're on their own for.

But we are going to do is make sure that you know something about the candidates.

We'll share some insight on the races that we found most interesting reporting this year.

And we're going to cover the basics about how and where to vote, and hopefully leave you feeling confident when you step into the ballot box to make all that happen.

I'm going to introduce you to some of my favorite colleagues who've been following these races on their beats.

Then we're going to walk through some of the tools that we've found really helpful when preparing for the November 5th ballot.

If you want to get to know the candidates in every race from the top of the ticket to the bottom, visit our website, the San Antonio report.com to view our comprehensive 2024 voter guide.

You'll find more than 90 candidate profiles from the presidential race down to county constables.

In many cases, you'll be able to hear from the candidates firsthand who filled out our questionnaire about their background and experience and how they plan to address the most pressing issues in their communities.

Aside from the presidential race, which we probably couldn't tell you any more about than you already know, Texas has an exciting U.S. Senate race this year between Republican Ted Cruz and Democrat Colin Read, and a number of congressional races that could play a role in who controls the House next year.

At the state level, voters are choosing who will represent them in Austin for what sure to be another high stakes legislative session starting in January.

Locally, the Bexar County sheriff is on the ballot this year, plus two county commissioners and the county constables.

We also found the judicial race is particularly interesting this year.

No Republican signed up to run for any of the district court judge ups in Bexar County, but Republicans are making a play for three seats on the Fourth Court of Appeals.

It covers 32 counties in the Hill Country in South Texas, and Democrats control almost all of the seats on that court.

But the combination of red and blue counties has made for some really close races in recent years.

We definitely can't get to all those races today.

So we're going to start off with some contests that every San Antonio voter will see on their ballot, which is the city charter amendments.

And to do that, I've invited my colleague, Iris Dimick, senior reporter for the San Antonio Report, who's been covering various aspects of the city government here for more than 12 years.

Thanks so much for being here.

Hi, Andrea.

So you've covered, I think, six city charter elections in the last, three city charter election attempts in the last six years.

Different kinds, some led by the cities.

I'm led by critics of the city who gets to change the city charter, and why would they want to?

Well, only the voters are have the power to change the city charter.

And, the charter is the city's constitution.

It's like the the guiding document that the city uses, that lays out how the city functions and how city council members are paid and how long their terms are.

It's been amended only 11 times since it was first adopted in 1951.

And some of the spiciest props in recent years have to do with police reform and, and city manager salaries.

And those are typically triggered by a petition, voter initiated petition that involves collecting thousands of signatures to get those propositions on the ballot.

And then there are city led changes, like in 2022 when the voters approved, house changes to what the city can spend money on, through its bond programs and that, that that led to a $150 million investment into, affordable housing in the city of San Antonio.

And that sounds maybe more vanilla, but these changes can have really, really big, impactful results.

So in the 2015 changes that were made, establish more professional salaries for council and, and that's credited that has but that change has been credited with with letting more people widening the pool of people who want to serve as a city council person.

So what kind of we getting this time?

Is this the spicy petition driven kind or the city driven kind?

Well, it's definitely spicy, but it is the city council, driven kind.

The mayor called a, charter review commission.

They had a bunch of meetings, did a lot of research.

And then the city council ultimately put them on the ballot this year.

Okay.

And so they've they've narrowed it down to six of these proposals, which ones are getting the most attention?

Probably by far is getting the most attention this year.

This would, eliminate the pay and tenure caps that the city manager currently has.

Right now, his his salary is capped at, ten times the lowest paid employee, city employee.

And he can only serve for eight years.

And voters may find this familiar because they were the ones who 60% of the voters six years ago were the ones who put this, these caps in place.

This was the firefighters proposal from a few years ago.

Yes.

Correct.

Yeah.

And so City Manager Eric Walsh now is in this position.

And so what would make the city think that this needs to be undone, that even voters would go for it?

Well, the caps are actually aimed at the former, city manager Cheryl Scully, who is making nearly a half $1 million for a year.

And she was in this years long battle with the police and firefighters union over their labor contract.

So while these rules didn't apply to her, they immediately, applied to City Manager Eric Eric Walsh.

So when he started, in 2019, his salary was 312, 312,000, and now it's currently 374,000.

And he would have to find a new job in 2027 if proxy is approved.

And the city would also have to find a new city manager, presumably.

Correct, which lots of people do not want to have to do.

There's a there's a group of business leaders in San Antonio, who think someone in that position deserves more, competitive salaries, like with, you know, CEOs of companies in San Antonio.

And, frankly, they like Walsh and they want him to stay.

So that renew SA pack is going to be trying to spend more than $1 million to try to undo these caps.

And typically city managers, they don't really stick around for 13 years.

Cheryl was a bit of an outlier, in that regard.

They typically stay as city manager from 3 to 5, you know, maybe ten years at the most.

Okay.

And so this proposition, I remember getting a ton of attention when it was going through the city, the Charter Review Commission.

It was a very emotional discussion.

Talk about what happened in those meetings.

Yeah.

San Antonio is one of the poorest cities in the country, and there's certainly a group of people that say that these these pay caps could improve pay equity within the city organization.

The, the lowest paid employee would be gets about 30 7KA year.

And there are some wage calculators out there that say a living wage is more like 44, thousand dollars a year.

And so the firefighters who push for these changes, where are they in all of this?

Yeah, they, the union is not mad at Walsh.

They but they are very much opposed to proposition C. They were on the bench for a while because they they do like and respect, Eric Walsh.

But they decided to get involved because of the, you know, the principle of the matter.

They would say, it's more about making sure that the city manager can't amass the same kind of power that Sheryl Scully was able to do over her tenure.

So voters will likely be seeing a lot of firefighters at the polls, and that will may sway a lot of voters.

The union has a PAC as.

Well that could.

That has a bank account of, $900,000, one.

Hundred thousand dollars.

Okay.

Lots of money left.

Okay.

Yeah, lots of money involved.

But then an issue that ultimately impacts City Hall insiders more so than the average voter.

Other San Antonio has the large city manager form of government, which means the city manager is a pretty powerful position.

The city council is less powerful here, so it's a big job, but more interesting to city all insiders.

What else is on there?

Anything transformative like the housing bond?

Well, prop proposition F, is going to be a game changer for city council members.

This would give council members, an additional two years of breathing room between elections.

So extending a two year term to a four, keeping in at eight years total.

But so instead of using all of this time and energy on campaigning every other year, you know, the thought is, is that they would be able to, to make meaningful changes during their four year terms.

I can understand how they might want that.

What if they're not a great council member?

Well, right on the flip side, you know, if a council person really screws up or something, voters would have to wait, you know, till the end of their four year term or call a recall, you know, election, but neither.

That's not very fun or easy.

So interesting.

This one is kind of fascinating to me, because it would mean that our next mayor, whoever is elected to replace Ron Nurnberg, would be a four year mayor, which would be a big change.

Versus that person having to run for reelection in two years.

And what else?

What else?

I remember that the city council had several changes that they wanted for themselves, perhaps out of this.

Yeah, they, the mayor and city council are also stand to gain some, some, monetary, benefits out of this election.

It wouldn't widely shift, who's considering running for office?

But, but it might make sure that we don't have this debate again.

So this would tie the annual median income for a family of four and be updated annually.

So that's, roughly 70,000 for council and 87 for for the mayor.

But that's the 47 and 42% pay bumps.

So it's quite significant.

I guess that comes in lower than at one point we were talking six figure salaries for the council during this process.

And that that is no longer.

Yeah.

There was a pretty major backlash to to suggesting, you know, 100 or more than $100,000 for the council members and the mayor.

But yeah, it's always an awkward, ugly fight when, you know, a elected officials have to talk about their own compensation.

So, at for perspective, though, the city, the, the county commissioners do make more than $100,000, more than the more than $100,000 more than the city council members.

That's and that's after they get the raise.

If they were to get this raise of 100,000.

More than that.

Yeah, roughly.

Wow.

And what else?

So now we've covered c d Funded to keep track of a. I think a is about the, ethics and clarity there some b a some language changes updating things in the charter.

And this final one was, this was one that was proposed by not the city council themselves.

Correct.

Right.

Proposition D is interesting.

It removes a restriction on political activity for city employees.

A vote for it would allow them to work or volunteer for municipal candidates.

As long as it's on their own time off the city's clock and not using city resources.

This prop actually didn't.

Yeah.

Didn't come from the review commission.

Or from a petition.

It was, it was lobbied for by the the union who represents city employees.

You know, they showed up to those charter commission meetings and to city council meetings.

To advocate for that.

And city Council agreed to put it on the ballot.

Got it.

So this is a lot at the bottom of a ballot.

Yeah.

So what is the outlook?

Are people thinking that these would pass?

That remains to be seen.

I am no longer in the betting business when it comes to city charters that I never was, but, so.

But if any of them succeed, it would take to, we can't change the charter again for another two years, so.

Oh.

That to me, this is it's provided some really interesting politics to proposition eight a the firefighters unions.

This has been some, some interesting topics for us to cover.

Agree.

The off the off the table until May 2027.

Yeah.

Okay.

Well, thank you so much.

Iris.

Iris is our in-house expert on all things city government.

Thank you.

I appreciate it.

For our next segment, I want to talk about some other races that you might not be expecting to see on your November ballot, which is school board races.

Some districts hold their board races in the spring on the municipal election ballot, but two Bexar County districts will have candidates on the November ballot, and some voters will also see a race for the state Board of Education, which, if you follow Texas politics closely, is where some of the spiciest political fights play out over curriculum, textbook, charter schools, etc..

So talk about all of this.

I wanted to bring on the San Antonio reports, in-house education expert Isaac Wines.

Thanks for being here, Isaac.

Thanks for having me.

So who is holding their school board elections on the November ballot?

So there is one seat that's up for election on the, East Central Independent School District board.

And then there are a couple seats up for the Edgewood Independent School District Board of Trustees as well.

And where is the Edgewood?

Relatively located in the county.

It's kind of west, west of, downtown San Antonio.

Are any of these spicy races like we saw in any ISD?

A couple months ago?

So I wouldn't say the spicy in terms of kind of Partizan politics like we saw there, but definitely, contentious in terms of kind of, I'd say more local politics, local groups, and, I guess factions of people that are supporting other people.

Which, is, is something that has been the case in Edgewood in the past.

Elaborate.

So, some of the candidates that are being accused of this actually reject the idea that they're, you know, being brought back to the old ways.

But just for a little bit of background.

Edgewood was, taken over by the state in 2016 for factionalism, where there were these groups that were deadlocked on all sorts of issues.

And, really after returning to local control, they've been a much more unified board.

That was until last year, a young trustee, just graduated high school, ran unopposed.

Ever since then, he has been really, you know, pushing against the grain, trying to hold, you know, the administration accountable from his perspective.

And, he actually isn't running in this race, but, some other people that, you know, are inspired by him are running.

And one of the long for long standing trustees, Richard Santoyo, who was actually first appointed by the state as one of those board of managers, has, shared concerns that he sees this as kind of, potentially going back to those old ways of factionalism.

Interesting.

Did the new person recruit these candidates or are they running opposing the change that he brought?

So, the, allegation is certainly that he recruited them.

All of the candidates have denied that charge.

And, you know, said for various reasons, you know, that, that that they're running for their own reasons.

I think there are a lot of similarities just in this idea that there isn't enough community or apparent engagement.

And then that there isn't enough accountability for the administration that has really been there since the state took over.

And this district also has a bond on the ballot.

No, actually, that's a different district.

Does the bond, east central?

And, yeah, they have A43 part bond to ask.

And that's East Central, which, has kind of the opposite problem.

Edgewood.

One of the big things a lot of the candidates talked about was school closures, declining enrollment, because that's been a problem they faced.

East central, on the other hand, is seeing rapid growth, rapid expansion.

They're expected to double within the next ten years.

And so they're looking to get, some new schools, a new high school to new elementary schools through those bonds, and then to fix some very old, decaying, sports facilities, with another two of those pieces.

I.

Know in this area, we've had a few bonds fail in recent years.

What is the word on this one?

Is, is it expected to pass?

I think it's yet to be seen for sure.

There have been several successful bonds in this area in the past.

Just because, the need is so great.

You know, if you run out of space in schools, you need to build those new schools.

And so I think, kind of with that argument, it's likely to pass, probably.

But you never know.

It's always, you know, you're seeing that it's, increasing taxes on your, on your property bill.

So that always has the chance of, scaring some, some voters.

Interesting.

Well, we love a spicy school board race at the San Antonio airport.

And we do have one Partizan school, education race on the ballot.

This is this race for this massive district in the state Board of Education district one.

Correct.

It runs all the way from the west side of San Antonio to El Paso.

We've got a Democrat who decided not to run for reelection at the last minute.

And, two candidates who are running for this.

And I know you interviewed both of them recently for a story that you worked on.

What's going on in that race?

Yeah, certainly.

So I think, a lot of the education issues across the state have taken on a political flare recently.

And I thought I was kind of, surprised by the lack of that between these two candidates.

There was a lot of agreement on things like, more scrutiny for charter schools.

More academic rigor, and then reforming the state standardized test.

One of the issues that always comes up in these races, even though they don't directly impact, is the school voucher debate.

And, the Republican candidate, Michael Stevens, actually kind of broke from, a lot of others in his parties and said he was staying neutral and not going to take a hard position, in 2022 when he ran before he did kind of post and, say some things in support of it.

But this time he, he said he was staying neutral.

Interesting that issue that has taken up so much oxygen in this cycle.

And the Democrat in this race is, Gustavo revels in he's on the other side of the district.

What is he calling for?

Yeah.

So he, again, kind of made the point that, the state Board of Education doesn't pass vouchers, doesn't really, you know, have a stake in, whether it passes or not.

In terms of actually making the decision, but said that it was important for him to take a stand against them, entirely.

And so, he he took that position.

And big picture this, the state Board of Education.

What will they be?

What do you think will be their biggest battles in the coming year?

Yeah, I think so.

Definitely.

Curriculum, changes.

What, you know, what is going to be taught in Texas classrooms?

It's already really controversial with the, current state authored curriculum that is, being considered right now will be voted on next month.

I think that, considering those pieces will, will be something really big moving forward and then just the rigor of, you know, actual academics as we look to increase, you know, the really middling or lower rankings of Texas in the national education landscape.

Fascinating.

Thank you so much for coming on today, Isaac.

Of course.

Thank you.

For our next segment, I want to make absolutely sure by the end of this show, you have a clear plan in mind for what it's going to be like when you head to the polls.

Texas has a lot of rules and they change often, so we wanted to run through the deadlines, what to bring, what to wear, what not to wear, what to expect, where to go, and to do all of that.

I invited the San Antonio Reports reporter Lindsey Kahnert to talk about some of her reporting on voting logistics.

Lindsey, thanks for being here.

Andrea.

Thanks for having me.

All right.

So give us the lay of the land.

When does early voting start?

Where do you early vote?

One of the deadlines.

What do we need to know?

So most importantly, in, Texas, you need to already have been registered to vote.

And that deadline was unfortunately on October 7th.

So if you didn't meet that deadline, please get registered to vote next time.

But make sure that you are right.

We will have a municipal election in just a few short months.

Yes, that's right, and they're always coming up.

So make sure you're registered for the next one.

But, if you are registered for this one, early voting starts on October 21st.

And it will go through November 1st.

And so, we have a bunch of polls here in San Antonio.

We have 51 early voting locations.

You can see all of those on a map on the Bexar County elections web page.

So if you want to pop over to that and visit it, you can find the closest poll to you.

And you can also vote to any of those as long as you have a valid form of ID.

So as long as you're carrying your valid form of ID, you can visit any of those 51 locations.

I definitely suggest early voting because Election day voting can be crazy lines.

And it can be really, really long.

So and if you do wait to Election Day, we've got a few more.

There's like something like 300 locations instead of the 50.

But if you do on Election Day, what are the rules there?

You need to be in line or it's what are the hours for Election Day voting.

Do you know?

So yeah.

That's a great question.

For early voting.

You need to check by the location.

But for voting day, as long as you're in line by 7 p.m. at any of the valid polling locations, you will be able to vote.

Okay.

And also, you can still you can go to any of the 300, right?

That's right.

Yes.

You can go to any of those.

And Lindsay, what's on your packing list when you go to vote.

So make sure that you bring one of your seven forms, a valid ID and Texas seven.

There are seven I know.

Yeah, it's a lot.

So you can definitely bring your driver's license or your passport.

Those are the most too common ones of course, but your handgun license, your military ID, your Texas elections ID, and there's one more or two more that I'm forgetting, but I'm sorry.

Library card.

No, it has to be like government specifically issued.

But if you forget any of those, you can also submit a form and bring any sort of government ID that you have.

Okay.

And what if you've moved?

You can check your I know you can check your voter registration, but if you've moved since the last election, what happens then?

Yeah, that's a great question.

If you've moved, you may still have to vote based on your old address if it is still valid, but you will still get to vote.

And I know for a lot of people, they're excited to vote about the presidential election.

So you want to get to cast your vote for that?

How do you know what you're going to select when you're in there?

That's a great question.

So we do we did a report recently about your specific ballot.

So everybody's ballot is going to be different.

From each other.

So if I vote and my ballot may look different than yours because I live on the north side of San Antonio.

You got an exciting house, right?

So and so.

Yeah.

And so we have a different ballot, which, because the congressional districts are really wonky in Texas, you want to make sure to check, your specific address beforehand.

So the best way to do that is to go to the Fair County elections web page.

They have a tool that we gave in step by step guide on the report, on how to look up your ballot.

And make sure you look at that with our voter's guide so that you're able to pick out which candidates you want, but do not bring your iPhone or your tablet into the boxes.

They will not allow that.

Make sure you write down on paper or print out that ballot to take into the box with you who you're going to vote for.

What else?

What are we missing?

I know Texas has tons of rules.

Yeah, make sure that when you go, you're not wearing any sort of candidate specific, wear.

So no buttons, no hats, no t shirts.

That's not allowed in Texas.

And then make sure you get there.

Early.

Make sure you bring your ID.

All of that should be, all you need to to vote.

Well, Lindsay, thanks so much.

Yeah.

Thank you for having me.

Covering these races and putting together the voter guide and these other election tools is truly a labor of love for us.

At the San Antonio Report.

We, too, look at the ballot and feel overwhelmed sometimes.

It's my hope that over the course of this program, you heard about a race or a candidate or a ballot initiative that you hadn't heard about before.

We've had so much fun learning about it all through our reporting, and I think you will too.

So take advantage of all the information available at our website, sign up for our newsletters.

Email us with your feedback.

I'm Andrea Dredge, government and politics reporter for the San Antonio Report.

See you on the other side of this November 5th election.

November 5th is election day, and Cllr.

Ian reminds you every vote counts.

Early voting starts October 21st and runs through November 1st.

Bexar County has 51 locations where you can vote early and you can vote at any site.

Want to view a sample ballot before you head to the polls?

You can find your ballot online at the Bexar County Elections Department website.

If you need curbside voting, no worries, just call ahead to the elections office.

So the early voting clerk at your voting location can be notified.

What do you need to bring when you vote?

Any one of seven accepted forms of ID, such as your driver's license, military ID, or your passport.

And don't forget phones are not allowed in the voting booth.

Need a Mail-In ballot?

The elections department needs to receive your request for the ballot by October 25th.

Remember, your vote counts.

You.