Voter turnout expected to rise as Dallas elections move to November

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This coming year could be the last time West Dallas voters elect a trustee or council member in May.

City of Dallas council members and Dallas College trustees voted in recent weeks to move elections from May to November of odd-numbered years, and Dallas ISD trustees are poised to do the same at their meeting tonight.

The main reason? The strong possibility that more people will participate in November elections than they have in May because “people are just used to voting in November,” explained Jeff Kitner of the North Dallas Chamber of Commerce, when speaking to Dallas College trustees Dec. 2.

It’s not just a hunch. Cities like Houston, which hold local elections in November of odd-numbered years, see voter turnout percentages in the high teens and 20s, while percentages for Dallas City Council and Dallas ISD and Dallas College hover in the single digits for May elections.

And that’s on purpose. In our reporting from this past May, David de la Fuente, the former City Charter Review Commissioner championing this cause, told us part of the intent of creating “off-cycle elections,” or moving elections from November to May, was to suppress turnout among working-class and marginalized voters.  

“They essentially bragged that only the most passionate, and often more elite, voters would show up,” he says.

Case in point: Voter turnout in West Dallas last May for an open seat on City Council and an open seat on the Dallas ISD school board yielded a mere 6% and 5% turnout, respectively, of registered voters. 

This shift in election dates began with a Dallas charter amendment that commissioners recommended last year, city councilmembers put on the November 2024 ballot, and voters approved. Then Texas Senate Bill 1494 sealed the deal.

After City Council knocked down the first domino with a 15-0 vote, Dallas College trustees’ decision to follow suit means that District 6 Trustee Diana Flores, who represents West Dallas and would have been up for election in May 2026, will now hold her seat another year and a half, until November 2027. Flores has been in office for nearly 30 years, since 1996, having won five elections and making her the longest-tenured trustee. Dallas College trustees serve six-year terms and do not have term limits. 

All seven trustees were in agreement to move elections from May in even-numbered years to November of odd-numbered years, but they disagreed on whether to shave six months from their six-year term or add another year and a half. Flores voted with the majority of trustees, 5-2, to give themselves each a seven-and-a-half year term.

“It’s not like we’re taking this action selfishly and self-interestedly on our own; this is something the legislation has enabled,” Flores said during the Dec. 2 governance committee meeting. She described a full transition to November as “more fair” and echoed fellow Trustee Catalina Garcia’s reasoning: “If there were a concern [from voters] about how long we served, there would have been a push for term limits.” 

Changing election cycles would be more complicated for Dallas ISD’s nine trustees. If the board approves tonight’s resolution, it’s not only a shift in dates but also a change in trustee terms from three to four years, and a move from electing three trustees every year to four or five every other year.

The shift wouldn’t impact West Dallas Trustee Joe Carreon’s next election, slated for May 2026. But going forward, five trustees would be up for election in November 2027, and four in November 2029. 

Under the new system, two trustees who won their seats this past May would have to vie for them again in November 2027, shrinking their term to two and a half years. The third would be granted four and half years in office, facing election in November 2029.

One of these destinies would befall West Dallas’ other trustee, Byron Sanders — but which one? That decision would be made “by agreement or drawing lots,” according to the resolution.

But on the whole, says District 8’s Carreon, who also is board president, the change would be a “big win” now that the City and Dallas College have made their decisions.

“For me, the most important thing is to build a culture of civic participation and voting, and continue to grow that in the communities I represent,” he says. “It makes a lot of sense to move to elections in odd-numbered Novembers and being able to communicate clearly when to come out to vote. When does Dallas vote? We vote in November.”

Carreon’s first ever election was in November of an even-numbered year, which coincided with the 2020 presidential election. Between Carreon announcing his run for office in January and being on the ballot in November were the March partisan primaries and the June runoffs for those primaries, plus the scheduled May elections, until Texas Governor Greg Abbott moved them to November amid the Covid-19 pandemic. 

“That was very confusing for people who follow this stuff but can’t give up their entire lives to put when the school board election is, at the center of their universe,” Carreon says.

Odd-numbered years are key. Presidential, congressional and state legislative elections take place in even-numbered years, with ballot items identifying candidates by their political party.

City of Dallas, Dallas ISD and Dallas College elections are nonpartisan, and if Dallas ISD trustees decide tonight to join their local elected colleagues, voters can reliably head to the polls every other November to choose their local leaders, starting in 2027.