San Marcos voters are deciding a handful of races in the Nov. 4 election, including Place 1 and Place 2 seats on City Council as well as several proposed charter amendments.
Early voting totals were posted shortly after 7 p.m., while the first Election Day results were posted at 8:43 p.m.
What we know
As of 10:21 p.m. Nov. 4, Place 1 incumbent Matthew Mendoza leads opponent Chase Norris with about 57% of the vote, while Josh Paselk leads all Place 2 candidates, including incumbent Saul Gonzales, with approximately 36% of the vote.
San Marcos operates under a majority vote system—meaning candidates must receive 50% plus one vote to win. If no candidate meets that threshold, a runoff between the top two candidates will be scheduled for Dec. 13, Hays County Elections Administrator Jennifer Doinoff.
There are 12 proposed charter amendments being decided, including:
- Proposition A: would update the document’s language to use “them, their or they” pronouns where applicable.
- Proposition B: would require the city to post public notices on its social media and website, instead of only in the newspaper.
- Proposition C: would make the mayor’s term two years longer and would add a term limit of two consecutive terms. The mayor would be allowed to run again after a four-year hiatus.
- Proposition D: would require the San Marcos City Council to have two fewer meetings annually.
- Proposition E: would require City Council to approve the minutes from the previous meeting at each meeting.
- Proposition F: would edit the charter to let the residents know copies of the code of ordinances can be purchased.
- Proposition G: would add 60 days to the current 30 days for citizens to file a petition to approve or reject laws that the city council does or does not pass.
- Proposition H: would bring the total days from 45 to 60 for the city clerk to verify a petition.
- Proposition I: would increase the time from five to 10 years before the Planning and Zoning Commission is required to review the comprehensive plan.
- Proposition J: would move the language related to the Planning and Zoning Commission’s Comprehensive review to the section about the comprehensive plan.
- Proposition K: would ensure that the city’s budget documents will be written in easy-to-understand language.
- Proposition L: would rename Article XII to “Ethics,” and items that are not about ethics would be moved to a new article called “General Provisions.”
Community Impact will update this article as more election day vote totals are released. All results are unofficial until canvassed.
Visit www.communityimpact.com/voter-guide to see results from all local and state elections in your community.
