May We Vote
The City of Falls Church holds local elections every other May. During these elections half of the City Council and School Board members are elected to 4 year terms. The next election is currently scheduled for May, 2010. Apparently it has been this way for a long, long time (I think the elections used to be in June instead of May - but they’ve always been in the spring). I moved into the City in June, 2008, so I haven’t yet experienced a May election - and there’s a chance I never will.
About 10 years ago the state legislature passed a law that allows the Cities of Virginia to change their elections from May to November. There are two ways to make this switch: either a majority vote by the City Council, or a ballot referendum voted on by the citizens. Shortly after the law was passed the League of Women Voters of Falls Church put out a report on the issue. It is an extremely well balanced look at the pros and cons of changing when the election happens. You can read it here. The City Council is now considering an ordinance that would move the elections, starting next year, from May to November. In order to change the 2010 election the ordinance would need to be passed before January 1, 2010. The other option, putting a referendum on the ballot, would need to be in place by that date also - which is basically impossible - so the soonest a referendum could be on the ballot is the 2012 election.
I’m hoping the City Council doesn’t rush this issue. If there’s enough support for a change to pull together the petition needed to trigger a referendum then that’s what we should do. It would take years before the election day could change - but at least we’d know or sure that the citizens want the change. Also, if the City Council makes the switch to November it is much harder to change back to May (it would require the lawmakers in Richmond to get involved).
If four members of the City Council support this ordinance then it will take effect. This would result in the City Council members unilaterally extending their terms in office by 6 months. Something about that just doesn’t seem right. Even if they adjust the ordinance to have the election change happen in 2012 it will still be extending the terms of four members. I think the appropriate thing to do is let the voters decide this issue.
I strongly suggest reading the LWV’s report on the issue, it covers all the bases. From the discussions I have heard there seem to be two main reasons to support moving the election. The first reason is that it would save the City money. The latest estimate from the City is a savings of $18,000 per year (it’s not clear to me if that’s per election year (i.e. every other year) or an actual per year savings). That’s not a trivial amount (although it’s pretty small compared to the City’s overall budget) but I think most people eventually agree that the cost savings isn’t a big factor.
The second reason is that we would see better voter turnout in November. I think that’s almost certainly true - but is that a good thing? I’ll touch on that in my next post.
18k/year
Thanks for bringing up this issue. I don’t think saving $18k/year is worth the change, but I do think that increasing voter turnout is a good thing.
Now, I think for increased voter turnout to be a really good thing those voters to be well-informed of the candidates and issues, and I don’t think that’s generally the case around here. I look forward to your next post on the subject — I hope you touch on how the City can do more to get the citizens more involved in being citizens.