The San Antonio mayor and council races are set. Could the ballot order sway the outcome of a packed race?

SAN ANTONIO – The ballot order for San Antonio’s May 3 election is set, including for the packed crowd of mayoral candidates.

The San Antonio City Clerk’s Office held a state-required lottery in council chambers Monday morning to determine the order in which candidates will be listed on the ballot. Facing the council dais on which they hope to sit, dozens of candidates, their representatives, or the city clerk herself drew numbers from a box.

Some political insiders believe ballot placement can give candidates an edge. If no one receives at least 50% of the vote in the May 3 election, which is widely expected in the mayor’s race, the top two finishers will head to a June 7 runoff election.

“I think folks are going to want to downplay it. But research shows that ballot placement does matter‚" said Laura Barberena, who is managing or consulting on several campaigns, including Councilman Manny Pelaez’s mayoral run.

With 27 people in the mayor’s race, she believes it’s likely the list of candidates will take up two or more screens on the county’s electronic voting machines.

While campaign spending can help boost a candidate’s name recognition, she said, “low-inform” voters may scan the first screen and “think of who the name ID is for that person and move on.”

“So it (ballot placement) will have some impact. You know, will it be the — change the outcome of the election? We don’t know,” Barberene said. “There are so many people running that, you know, a few percentage points could make a difference of who’ll end up in the runoff.”

The Bexar County Elections Office did not return KSAT’s call Monday asking about the ballot layout.

Standing out, or even being recognized, in the crowded field will be a challenge.

An October poll from the University of Texas at San Antonio Center for Public Opinion Research poll in October asked about support for seven early candidates. Pollsters found nearly 71% of voters either weren’t familiar with any of the candidates or didn’t know whom they would be supporting.

And none of the voters KSAT spoke to Monday could name even two of the 27 candidates competing for their votes. The only names any of the voters offered up, Julián Castro and Ron Nirenberg, aren’t on the ballot.

Castro left the mayor’s seat in 2014 to be U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development under Barack Obama. Nirenberg, the current mayor, will be forced out in June after serving the maximum eight years.

Nirenberg’s absence from the ballot makes this the first mayor’s race in 16 years without an incumbent, which has helped fuel the tidal wave of candidates.

>>> Who’s running for San Antonio mayor? Packed crowd vies for open seat

The ballot order for each of the council and mayoral races is below:

Mayor

1. Rolando Pablos
2. Sonia Traut
3. Robert T Melvin
4. Christopher Reyes
5. Jade McCullough
6. Brandon Gonzales
7. Tim Westley
8. Manny Pelaez
9. Bill Ruppel
10. Armando Dominguez
11. Adriana Rocha Garcia
12. Gina Ortiz Jones
13. Diana Flores Uriegas
14. Clayton Perry
15. John Courage
16. Chris Herring
17. James “Jae” Melvin
18. Andrew Fernandez Vicencio
19. G Zambrano
20. Arturo Espinosa
21. April Guadarrama
22. Michael “Sam” Samaniego
23. Beto Altamirano
24. Robert Salinas
25. Melissa Cabello Havrda
26. Mauricio Mau Sanchez
27. Santos Alvarado

Council District 1

1. Julisa Medrano-Guerra
2. Matthew J Gauna
3. Sukh Kaur (Incumbent)
4. Ramiro Gonzales
5. Dominique “Domingo” Littwitz
6. Maureen Galindo
7. Susan Strawn
8. Anita Marie Kegley
9. Patty Gibbons
10. Arnulfo Ortiz

Council District 2

1. Sean Hanlin
2. Stephanie E Powell
3. Carla-Joy Sisco
4. Jalen McKee-Rodriguez (Incumbent)
5. Bryant Livingston
6. Kizzie D Thomas
7. Sonya Moore
8. Rose Requenez Hill

Council District 3

• Kendra Wilkerson
• Phyllis J Viagran (Incumbent)
• Larry La Rose
• Kenneth Thomas
• WITHDRAWN - Mai Elsberry

Council District 4 - No incumbent

1. Gregorio De La Paz
2. Ernest Arrellano
3. Johnathon Cruz
4. Jose “Pepe” Martinez
5. Edward Mungia

Council District 5

1. Pablo Arriaga III
2. Teri Castillo (Incumbent)
3. Raymond Zavala

Council District 6 - No incumbent

1. Vanessa Chavez
2. Kelly Ann Gonzalez
3. Ric Galvan
4. “San” Carlos Antonio Raymond
5. Chris Baecker
6. Bobby Herrera
7. Gerald Lopez
8. Lawson Alaniz-Picasso

Council District 7

1. Marina Alderete Gavito (Incumbent)
2. Cynthia Lugo Alderete
3. Trinity Haddox

Council District 8 - No incumbent

1. Sakib Shaikh
2. Cesario Garcia
3. Cindy Onyekwelu
4. Rodney “Rod” Kidd
5. Ivalis Meza Gonzalez
6. Paula McGee

Council District 9 - No incumbent

1. Angi Taylor Aramburu
2. Emily Joy Garza
3. Daniel Mezza
4. Misty Spears
5. Celest N Tidwell
6. April Chang
7. Tristen Hoffman

Council District 10

1. Roy Anthony II
2. Marc Whyte (Incumbent)
3. Clint W Norton
4. Mark Duane O’Donnell
5. Eric Litaker

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