The runoff for the Alamo Colleges District 9 board seat has entered its final stretch with early voting scheduled and voters facing a condensed set of polling sites. After weeks of planning, officials reduced the number of vote centers at the last minute, leaving residents of District 9 with three choices for in-person voting during the early period and on election day.
Two candidates, accountant Robert Garcia and educator Carolyn DeLecour, advance to a head-to-head contest because no candidate reached the required 50% threshold in the first round. With only one contest on the June 13 ballot and a district-limited electorate, campaigns and election administrators are preparing for historically low participation — now complicated by shifting locations.
What changed and where you can vote
Originally, election planners expected four polling locations, including two heavily used Northside libraries that typically draw large numbers of voters. After those libraries were pulled because of summer reading programs, election officials substituted alternate sites. Later, one of those alternates also became unavailable, prompting a second update.
The final lineup of vote centers for early voting (June 1-9) and on election day (June 13, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.) now includes the Victory Center at San Antonio College, Northeast Lakeview College and Hope Church. Hours vary across the early voting window. Elections Administrator Michele Carew said the list was updated online once she was notified of the cancellations.
Reactions from the campaigns
Both candidates expressed frustration with the late notices. Robert Garcia, who lives near the district’s northern edge, criticized the removal of popular Northside library sites, arguing it creates a geographic disadvantage for some voters. “Pulling Encino and Tobin libraries — those are top voting locations,” he said, asserting that losing those centers amounts to practical disenfranchisement in a contest where turnout is crucial.
Carolyn DeLecour said her campaign had to quickly rework printed materials and remind supporters about the updated sites. She called the timing unfortunate, noting the changes arrived only days before early voting begins. Both candidates warned that fewer locations will likely depress participation, especially in a runoff with a narrow margin between the front-runners.
Logistical causes cited by officials
Election staff pointed to scheduling conflicts as the reason for the site switches. The Northside libraries were first removed because of summer reading events that conflicted with polling use. When one substitute site — Morgan’s Wonderland — later notified administrators it could not host voting, the election team published the revised list of centers.
Vote center in this context refers to a location where any eligible voter in the jurisdiction may cast a ballot during the early voting period, and the term is used widely across local election planning documents.
Why turnout and geography matter
Runoffs are often decided by small numbers of ballots, making site accessibility and voter awareness critical. Historical examples from this district illustrate the point: in 2026, the District 9 runoff between then-incumbent Joe Jesse Sanchez and challenger Leslie Sachanowicz took place as the board still held elections in November. On the Dec. 12 runoff ballot that year, roughly 4,500 ballots were cast in District 9 and Sachanowicz won by 66 votes. Those results highlight how a relatively small electorate can determine the outcome.
Earlier this year, the first round of voting for the current race attracted about 5,300 total votes, with Garcia and DeLecour separated by just six votes. Given how close that preliminary result was, both campaigns stress that losing convenient polling sites could disproportionately affect turnout in neighborhoods that historically rely on the removed locations.
Who can vote and key dates
Only residents who live within the Alamo Colleges’ single-member District 9 are eligible to participate in this runoff. Voters do not need to have cast a ballot in the May 2 election to vote in the June 13 contest. To verify participation rights, residents should confirm their voter registration.
Important timing for voters: early voting runs from June 1 through June 9; the runoff election day is Saturday, June 13, with polls open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. The last day to receive a ballot by mail in this cycle is June 2. These deadlines are part of the official schedule published in local election materials.
What to do if you’re a District 9 voter
Residents should double-check the three final vote centers and plan travel accordingly. If a voter relied on campaign literature or older notices listing different sites, they need to update that information immediately. Campaigns are making last-minute outreach pushes, but the onus remains on voters to confirm locations and hours before they leave home.
Given the close margins in previous rounds and the potential for low turnout, every ballot cast in this runoff could be decisive. Whether the changes reduce participation remains to be seen, but candidates, election officials and voters are now working against a compressed timeline to make sure eligible residents can cast informed and timely ballots.