Architects of Voter Suppression at Southwest Independent School District

School Board Trustees Mike Frazier & Sylvester Vasquez's

2008 Decision on Election Processes

By Yolanda Garza Lopez

In 2008, Southwest Independent School District Board President Mike Frazier and Vice President Sylvester Vasquez made a pivotal decision that would forever alter the landscape of voter participation within our community. They determined that SWISD would no longer hold joint elections with the City of San Antonio and Bexar County. Instead, they orchestrated a move to have SWISD trustee elections conducted with the City of Lytle, primarily located in Atascosa County. This decision, made behind closed doors, has had profound and far-reaching consequences.

For the past 15 years, this insidious choice has excluded SWISD trustee elections from the City of San Antonio and Bexar County ballots. This deliberate separation forces our constituents to cast a second ballot, often at different locations than their other local elections. The result? Confusion, frustration, and a significant reduction in voter awareness. Many of our voters remain oblivious to the fact that their local school board elections are not even included on their primary ballot—a calculated move to suppress their voices.

The fallout has been devastating. Voter turnout for SWISD school board elections is abysmally low. Most elections are now decided by fewer than 1,000 voters, sometimes a mere 300, out of approximately 33,000 registered voters. This starkly contrasts with the more robust voter engagement seen in other local elections. The motivation behind this decision was clear: the attempt to preserve power.

The roots of this decision trace back to the 2006 election when the school board's leadership chosen candidate, James Sullivan, narrowly clinched victory by a handful of votes. Alarmed by the burgeoning influence of San Antonio's voter base, Frazier and Vasquez sought to cement the dominance of a select subset of the rural vote, which had historically shaped the board's composition. Prior to 2008, the board was predominantly composed of members from rural areas. To fortify this voting bloc, board members from the Big Country suburb were handpicked a few years before 2008, further entrenching this inequitable system.

Mike Frazier, who passed away in 2020 after an unprecedented 40-year tenure as board president, played a pivotal role in these election processes. His enduring influence ensured the preservation of these skewed voting patterns, sidelining the majority of SWISD voters to preserve the established voting patterns.

Sylvester Vasquez personally confirmed to me that he and Mike Frazier had orchestrated the decision to sever elections from the City of San Antonio in 2008. Their strategy was clear: sustain the control of the rural voter subset at the expense of transparency and voter accessibility. This decision has sparked ongoing debates about the integrity of our electoral processes and the accessibility of democratic participation within SWISD.

This flagrant voter suppression is a call to action. We must rise, united and resolute, to challenge these tactics that undermine our democracy. We must demand transparency and inclusivity in our electoral processes. This fight is not just for us but for the future of our community. Join us in this movement. Together, we can reclaim our voice and our power.

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