ELECTIONS
With early voting from Oct. 20 until Oct. 31 and election day on Nov. 4, there is still plenty of time to get to the polls. For the city of San Marcos, there will be two council seats, 17 state propositions and 12 San Marcos City Charter Amendments on the ballot. The sample ballot can be found on the Hays County Elections website.
Hays County Elections Administrator Jennifer Doinoff called the November 2025 ballot “lengthy” and gave advice for how to navigate it.
“There’s a lot of constitutional amendments. In addition to that, all of our cities have charter amendments on the ballot,” she said. “We are asking folks, before they head out to the polling location, to download their sample ballot on our website and study it. They can even mark it if they want to, and bring that with them to help navigate the voting process more efficiently.”
Council
For San Marcos City Council Place 1, incumbent Matthew Mendoza will square off against Chase Norris.
For Place 2, incumbent Saul Gonzales will compete with Christopher L. Polanco, Josh Paselk, Barbara Montana-Escobar and Brandon Oles.
Charter amendments Proposition A would make governing document language gender neutral.
Proposition B would require the city to post public notices on its website and social media in addition to in a newspaper.
Proposition C would increase the mayoral term from two to four years with a term limit of two consecutive terms. The mayor would be allowed to run again after a four-year hiatus from the position.
Proposition D would decrease the number of required council meetings from 22 to 20.
Proposition E would make it so each council meeting had an agenda item with the previous meeting minutes along with an item for approval of the minutes.
Proposition F would amend Section 3.13 of the city charter to correct a run-on sentence and clarify that printed copies of the code of ordinances may be available for purchase.
Proposition G would increase the time from 30 to 90 days for citizens to file a referendum to approve or reject legislation enacted by council.
Proposition H would increase the time from 45 to 60 days for the city clerk to determine whether a referendum, initiative or recall petition is properly signed.
Proposition I would increase the time from five to ten years for the Planning and Zoning Commission to do a periodic review of the comprehensive plan.
Proposition J would reorganize the provisions of Section 7.02(7) regarding the review of the city charter to Section 7.03, which focuses on the comprehensive plan.
Proposition K would require plain language to be used in the city’s budget documents.
Proposition L would change the title of Article XII to Ethics, previously General Provisions, and would move sections unrelated to ethics to a new article, Article XIII called General Provisions.
Voting locations
Early voting locations, which are also available on Election day, are:
- Broadway Polling Location - 401 Broadway Street #A
- Hays County Elections Office - 120 Stagecoach Trail
- LBJ Student Center at Texas State University - 301 Student Center Drive
Other Election Day locations are:
- Brookdale San Marcos North - 1720 Old Ranch Road 12
- Calvary Baptist Church - 1906 North I35 Frontage Road
- Centro Cultural Hispano de San Marcos -211 Lee Street
- Dunbar Center - 801 West Martin Luther King Drive
- First Baptist Church San Marcos - 325 West McCarty Lane
- La Cima Amenity Center - 301 A Central Park Loop
- Promiseland Church - 1650 Lime Kiln Road
- San Marcos Fire Department Station #5 -100 Carlson Circle
- San Marcos Housing Authority/C.M. Allen Homes - 820 Sturgeon Drive
- San Marcos Public Library - 625 East Hopkins Street
- Sinai Pentecostal Church - 208 Laredo Street
- South Hays Fire Department Station #12 8301 Ranch Road 12
Additional information
The canvassing and release of official results will occur on Nov. 10.
Frequently asked questions with responses from Hays County can be found at following link: hayscountytx. gov/elections/elections- faqs.
