SAN ANTONIO – Southwest ISD voters will likely have to vote in two separate locations if they want to participate in all the May 3 races for which they’re eligible.
The school district said that because it partners with the City of Lytle, not the City of San Antonio, it’s not part of San Antonio’s joint election.
While the district’s voters can cast a ballot in other various municipal or countywide elections — such as the San Antonio or Von Ormy mayor’s race, or the Alamo College District’s $987 million bond — at any of the more than 40 Bexar County early voting sites, they will have to come to the two, district-specific voting sites to vote early in the at-large trustee election.
Neither location offers ballots for the larger Bexar County races.
Southwest ISD early voting locations
- Southwest ISD Admin Office, Building 800, 11914 Dragon Lane
- McAuliffe Middle School, 9390 Southwest loop 410
There will be more Southwest ISD sites to vote on Election Day, but only half of them will also offer ballots for the other Bexar County races.
Election day sites
- Big Country Elementary, 2250 Pue Road (NOT on Bexar County Election Day polling location list)
- Bob Hope Elementary, 3022 Reforma (IS on Bexar County Election Day polling location list)
- McAuliffe Middle School, 9390 Southwest Loop 410 (IS on Bexar County Election Day polling location list)
- Sky Harbour Elementary, 5902 Fishers Bend (NOT on Bexar County Election Day polling location list)
- Southwest ISD Admin Office, Building 800, 11914 Dragon Lane (IS on Bexar County Election Day polling location list)
- Horace Fincher Center, 19031 Priest Blvd., Lytle (NOT on Bexar County Election Day polling location list)
Southwest ISD Board President Sylvester Vasquez Jr., who is up for reelection, spoke with KSAT outside the district administration office polling site on Tuesday, the first day of early voting.
“It’s just a matter of doing it the way we’ve always done it,” he said.
Vasquez, who has been on the board since 2000, says the district partnered with Lytle “years ago” to avoid being forced to move their election to November.
“Well, we didn’t want that. We didn’t want people not voting for the right people at Southwest because they’re out there voting for all these other things, and then we’re at the very end, and ‘OK, well, let’s just check these two off,’” he said.
“Are you concerned that the ‘right people’ wouldn’t be elected if you were on the joint ballot in Bexar County?” KSAT asked Vasquez outside one of the district’s early voting locations Tuesday.
“I’d be concerned if it opened up, you know, citywide and uninformed people would vote for other people,” he replied. “Yes, I’d be concerned.”
Vasquez is one of four candidates on the May 3 ballot competing for two at-large trustee positions. Board Vice President Ida Perez Sudolcan, who has been on the board since 2003, is also up for reelection. Challengers Pablo Manzanares and Erlinda Lopez-Rodriguez are also running.
Lopez-Rodriguez told KSAT in an email “when access is limited—intentionally or not—it can lead to voter suppression."
“When voting processes are held separately from the larger county elections, it can confuse voters or unintentionally lower turnout, particularly in communities where transportation or awareness of election dates is already a barrier,” she wrote.
Early voting runs through Tuesday, April 29. Election Day is Saturday, May 3.
More election coverage on KSAT.com:
