San Antonio City Council will move this week to close a glaring loophole in the city's election laws which has caused controversy in City Council elections for decades, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
Council will approve a change in the city charter which, for the first time, will give the City Clerk the authority to determine if a person who runs for a City Council seat in a certain district actually lives in that district.
Currently, the only way a question over the legal residency of a City Council candidate is to file a lawsuit in civil court, which is expensive, and frequently the decision does not come down until after election day. Furthermore, just the allegation that a candidate does not live in the district can dry up fundraising.
The proposal which will be presented tomorrow will allow the City Clerk to require that all candidates submitting an application to run for City Council submit two documents proving residency.The can include:
1) Valid voter registration certificate
2) Current utility bill
3) Current bank statement
4) government check
5) Original paycheck
6) other current government-issued document with name and address
The candidate will also be required to sign a form acknowledging that all of the documentation is ow public record, although certain information, like the salary line item or Social Security Number on the paycheck, can be redacted.
The documents must prove that the individual has lived in the district for at least six months before the individual files to run for City Council.
The issue broke wide open earlier this year when several of the dozen people who applied to run for City Council District 9, on the city's north side, had residency issues. It turned out that one of the candidates actually lived in Austin.