On the record is brought to you by Steve and Adele Dufilho.

San Antonio is a fast growing, fast moving city with something new happening every day.

That's why each week we go on the record with Randy Beemer and the newsmakers who are driving this change.

Then we gather at the reporters roundtable to talk about the latest news stories with the journalist behind those stories.

Join us now as we go on the record with Randy Beemer.

Hi, everybody.

Thank you for joining us for on the record, I'm Randy Beamer.

And this week, with the elections coming up Tuesday, you may have some questions about the record breaking turnout and what that could mean for you if you haven't voted yet.

Here to talk about that as Bexar County selection Minister.

Michelle, thank you very much.

Coming in.

Thank you for having me.

First of all, we are talking record breaking turnout, not just for an off year midterm, but are we looking at possible record breaking compared to 2024?

We are.

So we're on pace to outnumber what we did in 2024.

Currently, during early voting, we're averaging about 41,000 voters per day.

And that would be a record.

We have 45,000 more registered voters in the county just since two years ago.

Is that right?

That's correct.

Did you have any trouble?

Some of the headlines people might still wonder about is there was a DPS backlog that the people who registered at DPS offices, those registration applications didn't get to you until recently.

That's correct.

What was that like dealing with that and when did they get done?

Sure.

So it felt a lot like last year when we had the backlog last year, we were able to call in a lot of the same temps that we used.

Then.

We didn't have as many temps coming this time just out of a, but we were able to get that backlog taking care prior to early voting beginning.

But that was your money that you had to spend even though it was a state issue?

Correct.

The state did offer us ability to request a reimbursement, but the reimbursement window was very small and I didn't have the backup documentation to submit it timely.

Now, in early voting, we've heard some reports that people are having trouble.

I you know, it's changed my voting I punch this.

It didn't work.

What do you tell people about problems like that at the polls?

So we hear about this every big election year.

It's not the first time that that's been reported.

But I believe what may be an issue is that voters are used to using their cell phones, whether it be an Android or an iPhone.

Those are very sensitive when it comes to touching the screen.

Different touch.

Screen, right?

And this one requires more touch to it.

So something I want the voters to know is that we take this very seriously.

Our texts are and these calling locations all day, every day, especially if an emergency arises.

And they're also calibrating and recalibrating these machines every third day.

And there have been there's another report of the machine that actually takes the ballots.

After you vote, they print it out.

Then you take it to another box that that didn't work.

So we did purchase new scanners there faster.

Unfortunately, the base that they're on as a shorter base than our original scanners.

And so our ballots 17in long.

And as it was going in there, it wasn't landing just right in the ballot box and it was causing it to jam.

Luckily, we were able to identify that and also have the vendor on site most of early voting to be able to help us take care of this.

Just one location or.

No, it was at most of the 58 early voting.

That's that's done.

We had 58 for early voting.

What about Election Day?

What do you expect and turnout?

And what do you tell people?

Well, on Election Day we'll have different scanners at these locations.

So the busier early voting locations, we did send a second scanner out.

They had a taller base and they've not had as many issues with the new scanner jamming.

And that gives a voter option which you know, which scanner do they want to put it in.

So that's taken care of on Election Day will only be sitting out the taller scanners.

We had the sheriff in talking about that he's doing election security, but wanted to keep his officers basically back so that they're not intimidating to voters.

Department of justice, though, has said that it is going to send poll watchers, I guess, to investigate and you talk to them.

Since this was all announced, they called you and said, we're coming to Bexar County.

That's correct.

So how did that go?

Well, they sent me an email with an official letter stating that they'd be coming to Becker County.

We met the very next day via zoom, and then following that meeting, I notified them that per law, they're not allowed inside our polling locations and that they would have to remain outside the 100ft mark.

And what are they looking for?

Did they say.

They said that they were just coming to verify that each location had a bilingual English Spanish bilingual worker, and that each location was A.D.

accessible, and also that the reason why they chose Becker County was due to the backlog of voter registration, that Secretary of State Gates.

So they won't be within 100ft.

But like electioneering, it's done outside that limit.

What are they are they going to have badges on?

Are they going to be talking to people?

What are they going to be doing?

Do you know.

They did not give me that information.

Do you expect any issues on Election day just because of the interest in it as well as the numbers?

Sure.

So interest is high in this election.

We are prepared to have voters come in.

But what the voters do need to realize is that their time at the polls may take longer than in the past, and a lot of it has to do with the length of the ballot.

We have several voters who was ballots are three and a half pages long.

If they increase the font of the size of the ballot, then it turns into 78 different screens that they're looking at.

So voters need to be prepared.

They need to look at their individual sample ballots, study it, be prepared to know how they're going to vote.

They can bring in a marked sample ballot, as well as a cheat sheet, so that they can get through the ballot efficiently.

You say that it's your own cheat sheet, right?

It's their own, whatever you choose.

What else do you tell people about what to expect on Election Day?

Parking issues in some areas easily lines.

We don't know what the weather is going to be like yet.

Correct.

So we're not sure what's what's in place for Tuesday.

But what we are prepared for is we do have a new wait time app on our web page.

They can go to and make a plan.

So as they're planning their day, they can look at that app.

It is a guest a minute of time.

It's not it's not exactly 99 minutes to vote, but it'll give you an idea of what you can look forward to.

So voter can type in their address either where they're at or or their home, and it'll zoom in on that area and give them multiple choices.

Tuesday night.

What to expect 7:00 or thereabouts.

You have election results released.

And then what's the timeline?

What do you expect?

How late will it go?

Sure.

So as long as there are no voters still online at 7:00, we'll be able to release our numbers timely.

However, if, as we've seen this year, there have been multiple our waits after the polls close at 7:00 and until those lines die down, we will have to make a decision based upon how fast they're getting in and out of the polling location.

We don't want to discourage anybody.

But statewide there will be some released because there won't be any lines in other counties.

How does.

That it could happen that way.

If there's not a line at other counties, the counties may choose to release their numbers shortly after 7:00, but ours will be based upon voter turnout.

In terms of history.

What has that been like?

Well how late?

Well, we've released as late as 815 or 830 and as early as 745.

And that's the early numbers.

That's right.

Now, if there are nobody in line or fewer people.

Right.

If there's a large amount, because in the primary we had upwards of 5000 people vote after 7:00.

Well, you have people outside to make sure.

Okay, at 7:00, are you in line or.

Correct.

So our judges have been trained to identify where the end of the line is.

We've trained them to place a clerk at the end of the line to ensure that the line doesn't continue to grow after seven.

And no other major issues, at least right now for the election.

Nothing that.

We've seen.

You're still smiling.

We are.

All right.

Thanks very much, and good luck with the Michelle crew.

If you haven't voted, get out and vote.

Election day is Tuesday.

The hours are.

7 a.m.

to 7 p.m.. You are correct.

Thanks very much, Michelle.

Crew.

San Antonio City Council right now is talking about what to do with the city on Wolf Stadium out of highway 90 when the missions moved downtown in a few years.

Here to talk about that is the councilman for that district, Rick Gallman district six.

Thank you very much for coming in.

Thanks for having me.

And what is going to happen at this point?

You've had a lot of input from the community.

You've had meetings, and now you're finally getting something to council.

Yes.

Very excited for this generational opportunity to invest in such an important project here in the West, San Antonio.

When we think about, of course, council moving this site downtown, I wanted to make sure that we had community at the forefront of what's going to happen next to this site, all that city.

Oh, there's parks nearby.

There's investments on our bond that already coming through to fruition there.

So we want to make sure this all ties in.

And we've heard from community with a couple of different things.

Making sure this parks recreation space for everybody to be able to use, make sure opportunities for people to live there, making sure there's medical places, retail shops and all kinds of different things, including and most importantly, a community and senior center on site.

And now on.

This space I should mention here, right at the beginning, I talked to Nelson Wolff before there was a plan to get rid of the baseball stadium part.

I just want to show you a little bit of that.

Seeing if there's a way that it can be used constructively, whether it's a high school football, whether it's some of the Mexican League teams still come in here, we've done a lot of that, and you can use that kind of stadium for a bunch of different events other than just baseball itself.

And then you've got high schools, you got sandlot baseball and senior baseball.

So hopefully, and I see where some of the colleges are coming here to play.

Now Notre Dame's coming back.

So I think it could be used and used in a way that it's nothing wrong with the stadium.

You know, the economics is not good after.

That's why they're moving having to do with the stadium.

It's moving in.

I agree with them.

It's just, you know, manufacturing firms out there to close down.

Kelly was gone.

So it doesn't it doesn't have the economic issues around it that that are beneficial.

So I don't know.

But it's 40 acres and only paid less than a dollar a foot for it.

So it's valuable and but.

It should still be a stadium.

Well I'd like it to be, but it may not be.

They may decide to do something different with it.

Well, now that we know it is not going to be a baseball stadium.

Why?

Yeah, well, we heard from residents was making sure it's in an accessible place, that it's a place for people to have different kinds of community events, different kinds of opportunities to have recreational events to so it can still have some sports activities going on.

But just not a big baseball stadium.

There wasn't for it here.

There wasn't anyone else.

UTSA, whoever that could be big enough and used enough for that as a baseball stadium.

Based on the market interest?

No, I mean, a lot of folks are looking at downtown in a more urban connection there.

Whether it's the new stadium the missions are looking at, or even using the Alamodome or other sites in the area.

Of course, you just invest in their own stadium as well.

And so I think there's going to be a lot of focus down there, which is great.

House and district in the area.

Make it as easy and connect as possible.

Let's make sure that this then is as comprehensive as it can be to not only serve the residents nearby, but also kind of place that the entire West Antonio from I-10 all the way out to our ranch can enjoy and utilize to the best opportunity.

And if you drive out highway 90, there's a lot of different things.

On the right.

You have Kelly and Lackland on the left, but the people wanted it to make sure it's not industrial.

Right?

Want more industrial?

Did you get offers for that?

The city get offers.

How big a piece of land is?

Yeah, it's over 49 acres that we're looking at here.

It is a massive site and that doesn't include the park space that's there too, right?

We're looking at making sure that this part of it, but less as we're that.

I want to make sure the park that we're investing in, the Gomes Park, Levi Strauss Park, the Trailways on the air all connect.

And that's been a big focus of all of this, right.

So we're going to have some retail space.

We're going to enable some commercial space and some light industrial.

And that thing major about warehousing the other sort, their manufacturing intelligence, something of the sort on site.

There's some interest there.

So making sure that it's all connects together is my big focus, is that we don't let up on saying, well, here's our thoughts.

Hopefully it comes together.

It's being diligent about bringing all the folks to the table and delivering this product.

And now people also might wonder, why do we want the city developing something cities don't develop?

Or that you could sell it kind of give people guidance, maybe some restrictions on what they could do.

But you think the city is a better developer in this case?

I think you got two ideas right now.

The one, the sale part.

Right.

Finding a massive developer that aligns with our community's inputs here is what's critical.

If we don't do that, then looking at at least a development authority that can lead to this space and have a specific focus on just this.

So what are we, the entire city services doing this?

It would be more so development authority potentially doing this the way Brooks development has the ports Antonio has where they're able to use this kind of public land and say how you make sure that we're getting a good return on investment and enabling iconic development that our businesses are asking for.

What kind of things do you not want out there?

Or you talk about what you want?

What did they say?

No, there's no way we're going to have this.

I think the biggest thing people have mentioned, right, is any major industrial expansion on there.

We have a great corridor along 150, one along 90 to continue developing out there.

Want to make sure this space is one where people can live, work, play and enjoy.

And so I think that's a big focus there.

Make sure those aren't there.

Data centers we've heard outright requesting those that be allowed on site.

And then of course, even making sure that the shops there are as quickly as possible.

There are a lot of good shops in the West Antonio, but folks are looking for clothing stores, looking for medical space, looking for the emergency care space.

And so those are some of the folks as residents are asking for anything outside of that.

We'll see if we can get.

What about infrastructure and roads and parking?

Because, you know, you have the parking lot from the baseball stadium.

People know what that is and what that part of the lot is where they're going to park.

Yeah, there's a couple of parking spaces, of course, all throughout it.

Right.

We're looking at different phases here.

Phase one would have the stadium side stuff.

A lot of that would be adjusted into park space, into retail space and all on the streets and along the highway.

There would be parking there that we would folks able to park there.

They can say, I'll leave my car here and be able to go experience the entire venue, going into the parkways, going into the ice cream shop there by going into the trailway.

It's connected here, going into the community center that comes in later on, going into even the darker parts of recreation headquarters that's currently there.

So that's the idea of having the parking there, and we'll continue to invest in the upcoming here on Callahan Road, Old Highway 90, to make sure that there is some quality investments in our streets.

And speaking of investments, how much is this going to cost and who's going to pay for it?

So really looking at public investment here, right, making sure that we are investing in the infrastructure, the site rating is needed and particularly the park space the retail part will be somebody else will work with to make sure that happens.

The cost will be likely over the next 20 years.

This is a generation opportunity that's going to take some time, and moving people along will be around $59 million.

And that's not only all at once.

We're looking at $10 million investment for this upcoming bond cycle, but I'm grateful city staff has seen this is not a district six project solely, but a citywide project.

If that means we'll be able to use a bit more extra dollars here.

For if it's just your district money, it's capped and you probably couldn't get enough.

What about the missions themselves moving downtown?

Apparently, you know, the rising costs have made them kind of slow down that whole development that goes with the ballpark downtown.

It's a big concern, right, for making sure this project is able to be financially sound.

Thankfully, we have some safeguards for our city to make sure that we're not investing something.

They're not going to come together as they push back.

What that means for this site in our area is that one of the missions keep playing, so we're going to still enjoy that while they're.

Playing.

That we'll keep playing, we'll keep having a good time there.

It also allows the community overall to continue connecting with us, with the city and seeing what things we can do next, and how can we get a bit more refined here?

If we're looking at art on site, we're looking at transportation services, we're looking at working with those developers and saying what's possible here, what's not.

It gives us more time to do that and be able to deliver all at once.

So you can look at that as a silver lining.

But the project is already moved back downtown from 28 opening to 29, so worry that could be pushed back again or more.

I have a little bit of worry for that.

I think it's Western urbanized out to figure out what next steps are for that site particular, but for me it means we can continue to investing in this time that we spend with our residents, investing in building coordination with Via with the university health and other folks are interested in how they can play a part in this development project.

And what is 2030 or 2032?

Making sure we secure the bond money, making sure we secure the site that we need to all enable it to whatever year it is we can deliver.

And you mentioned via there we had reporter in talking a couple of weeks ago about Via's plans for the East and with Silver Line, East West, north South Green Line.

Is that close enough on the Silver Line to get a developer or some tax breaks potentially.

I mean.

More so development opportunity.

There's no tax breaks.

What it will enable is a couple of different things.

More density on site for housing or for commercial spaces enable also more proximity for people to be able to walk and bike and even take the bus there right in more rapid way, getting there within 10 to 15 minutes.

And each particular spot is incredibly available here.

And a credible opportunity to have and be is looking at further investment on site as well.

What about mixed income housing?

Yeah, sure.

That was top of mind for people all over the city right now.

Yeah.

So there's two parts of this project that have shown phase two and phase four that have different parts of housing.

One is more market rate, more individual single family housing.

Two.

Right.

Phase four, which looks at senior housing that potentially could be supported by the affordable housing bond.

If we're enabling the Green Line or the Silver Line to go down this way, we can ensure that affordable housing bond dollars can be used for this site, have a higher priority and unlock affordability for the area.

Speaking of bond, you're working on the bond issue.

Where to put the money now?

Are we coming together on?

There was such a wide range of what city council members wanted to put in that bond.

Yeah.

What does it come down to now?

Now we're looking at I believe the council has decided that we're going to stick to the 442.

That's the Mac.

$2 million bond.

Correct.

No tax increase for the bond itself.

To make sure that we're staying within those bounds and figure out how we can then disperse that as evenly and as fairly as possible.

That's I think, the big crux of our conversation this week at council.

But it will mean that regardless, we are on the same page on moving forward on this for $42 and ensure that we have as much as best as we can from this particular bond.

And moving forward.

In terms of the timeline on the missions stadium moving downtown, as well as what happens to Wolf Stadium, what is the timeline on that?

You're you're talking about it now.

It'll happen another vote next.

Month, right?

So next week we'll be going through a next month we'll be going through a council approval process for this concept plan.

What that's done.

We can then move within the bond process to go and make sure this is a priority project, which I believe it is and it will be for me.

And making sure that then the voters know they can vote on this money to be approved and be used within this next five years.

And so whether or not Mission Stadium actually moves downtown within that time frame with 29 or 30 or 31, we'll have the money to use as soon as they move to start developing the park part.

And everybody getting along down a castle.

Now we're all having a good time.

Everything's been going well.

You know, I think folks have different opinions on different issues here.

Right?

I think that can spark some disagreements here.

Especially we look at different conflicts.

Right.

We talk about, for the first time, city council having to figure out how do we address such a deep revenue problem here that we have.

And so there's going to be conflict.

There's going to be conversations there.

But at the end of the day, I believe we're all so focused on making sure we're delivering for our residents.

And you're still.

Smiling and I still smiling.

Rick.

Go on.

Councilman district six, thanks very much for coming in.

Thank you so much for having me.

On this roundtable this week for the election coming up Tuesday.

We are talking money and how much is being spent to be all over your TV and in your mailbox on these last few days and weeks with us.

Chris Tomlinson, who is a statewide columnist for the Express News, Houston Chronicle and more.

Thank you very much for coming in.

Thanks for having me, Randy.

You wrote some, you know, some fascinating stuff about how much money is being spent to do, what kinds of things.

And it's just it's mind blowing the numbers this year.

You know, it's we're probably going to see $1 billion spent on elections in Texas alone.

And that's only statewide offices governor, senator, lieutenant governor, that kind of thing.

And that's going to be a record.

We've never spent that amount of money before.

And half of it or is half of it roughly on the Senate race alone?

Yes.

Over 500 million has already been spent on the Ken Paxton James Talarico Senate race.

And it's no surprise with the Republicans fearing losing control of the Senate, they need Ken Paxton to win.

In Texas.

The attorney general has struggled.

And so the answer has been to spend a lot of money on attack ads.

And you've written about where that money is coming from.

And that's also fascinating.

Yes.

What's interesting is that John Cornyn and other Republicans had complained that Ken Paxton was a poor fundraiser, and it shows he has not raised as much money as James Talarico.

On the other hand, the super PACs that support Ken Paxton, they're receiving huge checks.

And obviously the big one was from Elon Musk.

He funneled $158 million through the Senate Leadership Fund into super PACs supporting Paxton.

And that's why I shows so much money technically is coming from out of state and big donors, especially on the Republican side.

But with Musk, is it kind of leveling that out?

Yes, without a doubt, Musk is the largest contributor to elections in Texas.

He just recently wrote a $5 million check to Governor Greg Abbott campaign, a last minute bid to make sure that Abbott wins.

It's going to say, well, what does that tell you about that race?

This is an unprecedented close election.

We had Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick comparing this election to the Alamo, which I think is an unfortunate comparison for.

Tony.

For San Antonio, and also maybe for publicans chances.

Well, it's going to be interesting in terms of the chances, but the speaking of which, you write about polls a lot and we're talking chances and close a lot of polls very tight.

Do you believe them?

I do, and I also not only pay attention to the polls, but I pay attention to how the politicians themselves react to them.

And you take a look at what's happening in Tarrant County right now with a big blue, apparently a blue surge.

And you have the vice chair of the Tarrant County Republican Party sending out literally an alarm bells saying, I don't need money as much as I need people to vote.

I think without President Trump on this ballot, a lot of people are not interested.

They're disengaged and they might be staying home.

What about the content of these ads?

You've written about that as well, maybe especially with more money coming in.

It's attack, attack, attack.

That's right.

And the attacks are coming from both sides.

Stylistically, they are different.

What was interesting to me was the amount of ads that focused on transgender issues and those PACs.

This supported those ads that focused on transgender issues.

Came from Elon Musk, who was notoriously anti-transgender after one of his children transitioned.

I think sometimes these ads say more about who's paying for them than the candidate who they're supporting.

But the culture war issues have worked for Republicans in the past.

Do you think it'll work this time?

I'm not sure.

I think a lot of people will be splitting their tickets.

I've heard a lot of Republicans say that they're put off by Ken Paxton's scandals in the past, but they're still loyal Republicans, and they're still going to vote for Greg Abbott and Dan Patrick and the rest of the Republican.

Christian influencer influencers are coming out for Paxton, saying you don't have to marry the guy.

Was the was the line, the quote from this preacher as well as influencer.

Well, and that's the real issue that's hurting him, interestingly enough, is the divorce are his alleged extramarital affairs that is costing him support among the Christian right, which really is the base of his career.

He came out of the Christian right.

He led on abortion issues.

He earned a reputation as being a very conservative Christian.

So when his wife, state Senator Angela Paxton, announced divorce for biblical reasons, it really put a dent in his reputation.

And the recent story with him that's come out about his girlfriend or alleged girlfriend, Christian influencer herself.

But do you think any of that is going to have with the hard core base really going to matter if there's 48, 49% that's going to be Republican aligned in Texas?

You know, there's been talk of a purple wave for 30 years, right?

And this is what makes this moment so interesting is that we have seen tremendous demographic shifts, right.

We've added 2.5 million new voters since the last midterm election.

And you know.

Remember, Beto O'Rourke only lost by 250,000 votes.

2018.

In 2018.

So if we've added probably over 4 million new voters since 2018, we you know, a lot of these people came from other parts of the country, other parts of the world.

It could be a demographic shift that is finally making Texas purple.

But, you know, honestly, we're not going to know until Wednesday, probably.

How about back to the the content of the ads, what Democrats are doing compared to Republicans?

Well, Democrats are focusing on Ken Paxton's scandals.

They're attacking him on his impeachment.

They're attacking him on his divorce pending divorce, by the way, it's not it's not done yet.

It really is a focus on character, which is unusual since in the past it's been Republicans who run ads focused on character.

What about.

Well, let's move on to another story.

We'll we'll leave Tuesday for Tuesday.

You've written about some special young ladies, some special young women and what they are going through and why in terms of statewide leadership.

Right.

I've just finished a series of six columns focusing on this demographic shift in Texas, and the finale was about young people.

And so I spent the the second to last day of Girl State in Seguin with young women who've been enrolled in a camp for future leaders that sponsored by the American Legion.

Boys and girls state.

Girls state.

Every, every state.

Was a boys state guy.

You know, my boss was a girl state girl.

So it's she was very excited that I was going to do this story.

And it's really impressive to see these young women.

They form a legislature, they debate bills.

They pass bills.

You know, when I was sitting there listening to the crack of the gavel and the barks of the speaker, I had flashbacks being in Austin.

It was so accurate.

Yeah.

And it was really good to see young people who are very enthusiastic, who want to, to make Texas a better place.

All right.

Well, thank you very much, Chris Tomlinson, as always.

Interesting stuff.

You can read his in any newspaper in Texas are the big ones.

Anyway, thank you very much for coming in.

Thank you, Randy.

And thank you for joining us for this edition of On the Record.

You can watch this show or any previous shows.

You can also download them as podcasts.

Just go to KLRN.org I'm Randy Beamer and we'll see you next time.

On the record is brought to you by Steve and Adele Dufilho.