By William Haupt III [Tennessee Watchdog Journalist, Columnist, Author, and Citizen Legislator via The Center Square]
Image Credit: Pixabay
“In local government, you are only a few
blocks away from those that you serve.” – Valerie Jarrett
When
you have a street light that goes belly up, a stop sign that’s hidden behind an
untamed tree, or an intersection you cross daily with a prayer in heart, who do
you turn to for help? Rather than shift through volumes of unfriendly municipal
websites, you contact your local county or city official.
When
local elections are held with no state or federal races, they are a mere
afterthought. Voters either don’t know there is an election or don’t care. Even
when they are held during the general election in November, far too often it is
only special interests that know the issues and know the candidates.
Turnout
for presidential elections is considered low when it dips below 60%; and in
midterms when it is less than 40%. Yet local elections that draw a shameful 10%
or 20% turnout are common across our nation. Turnout for local elections has
always been historically low; but recent data show that it is getting even
worse.
“Elections are determined by people who don’t
show up.” – Larry Sabato
If
it is so important who serves on your county commission or on city council, why
is there such a low voter turnout for these offices? The number one reason why
turnout is low for local elections is simply: most voters don’t even know there
is an election, who is running or where or when to vote?
The
1965 Voting Rights Act states it is disenfranchisement not to inform voters of
an election. Yet counties and cities either don’t know this or care. A Portland
State University study finds the few who always vote are older and more
affluent, while all others make up a fraction of the electorate.
The
Portland study found less than a third of voters cast ballots during a local
election. This is easy to comprehend when voters aren’t notified of an
election. If the election is not held during a general election, less than 50%
of the electorate is even aware there is a local election and who is running.
Our
system doesn’t make it particularly easy to vote. It’s a familiar story. Most
municipal elections are held during odd-numbered years far away from November.
Only five states, Arkansas, Oregon, Kentucky, Nebraska and Rhode Island, hold
local elections in November or with general elections.
If
local elections are held during a primary or general election it is the
candidates who are notifying voters about the election – begging people to vote
for them, not the county or the city governments.
“The only people bound by campaign promises
are those who believe them.” – Christopher Hitchens
Local
governments started holding elections separately from state and federal
elections during the 20th century Progressive Era. They hoped this would keep
state and local elections from being overshadowed by national partisan races.
That’s still an argument used today. But if we look closer, the devil is in the
details. As the late, great Paul Harvey use to say, “Now for the rest of the
story.”
In
her book, “Timing and Turnout,” Berkeley political scientist Sarah Anzia notes
that not much has changed in local elections. “A small subset of voters who
tend to be wealthier and older are those who vote during stand-alone municipal
elections.” This enables special interest groups to “capture” local elections.
“If something is broken but works for the
right people they won’t fix it?” – Gary Martin
Rice
University’s Melissa Marschall, head of the Local Elections Project, noted
local governments are in no hurry to reform local elections. “When the
political machines ran municipalities, isolated elections decreased the
influence of immigrants breaking the political machines. When fewer non-English
speakers turned out, this effectively allowed governments to shelter the
political machines.”
Marschall
noted it is no accident that many “local school district elections” are held in
standalone years. Since these elections draw so few voters to the polls, it is
far easier to elect union-friendly candidates. She notes by isolating school
district elections, they can limit turnout to supporters. The average teacher
salary is 3% higher in these districts than in those that hold concurrent
elections.
Marschall
believes that, “Holding local elections on separate dates has outlived its
usefulness.” And although there is a growing interest for states and municipalities
to move local elections to coincide with general elections, there is a lot of
local resistance. This is especially true for special interests.
Last
month the California Assembly approved a bill to force localities with low
turnout of less than 25% to move local elections to overlap with state or
federal contests. What sounds like a good idea is not welcomed by everyone.
There is steep resistance from school boards and local politicians.
California
State Rep. David Hadley is arguing against holding concurrent elections. He
claims that this will hurt those vying for local support since it, “Forces them
to compete with state and federal races for money, volunteers, and for voter
attention. I believe this will hurt us more than help us.”
During
the 18th and 19th centuries, “political machines” ran large U.S. cities. They
helped organize and build big cities, but they also controlled them. Special
interests, business, and elected officials were all intricate parts in the
machines. The key to their success was controlling the local elections.
“The appearance of the law must be upheld –
especially when it’s being broken.” – Boss Tweed
Although
the “political machines” of the past are gone, they’ve been replaced with
political parties. The politics of local elections continues to favor
incumbents and they control local elections. Many of these offices are billed
as “nonpartisan.” Party politics or not, it will always be politics as usual.
Robert
Ingersoll told us, “Ignorance is not bliss, it is punishment.” We hear about
what is going on in Congress each day and what our state reps are doing also.
But if we want to find out what is going on in our county government, we have
to go to their website and dig for information. And we are lucky if we get a
tidbit of local government news in the throw-away fishwrap. That’s just not
good enough.
Today’s
local government political machines are a mixed bag, depending on demographics.
In rural areas, you have “the good ol boys.” In the large cities, you have “the
establishment.” But they are a tight knit group of locals who go along to get
along to maintain power. They do as much as we allow them to do. Hiding
election information is one thing that they are extremely proficient at.
Since
all government is local, local elections are the most important place to cast
your vote. If you have a city or a county that is not notifying you of every
single election and referendum, they are violating the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
They need to be reminded that “federal law trumps state law and protects voter
disenfranchisement.” You’d be surprised how few local governments have ever
been told this.
“Elections belong to the people. It’s their
decision. If they decide to turn their back on the fire and burn their behinds,
then they will just have to sit on their blisters.” – Abraham Lincoln
______________
About the Author: William Haupt III is a retired professional
journalist, author, and citizen legislator in California for over 40 years. He
got his start working to approve California Proposition 13. His work also
appears in The Center Square, The
Western Journal, Neighbor Newspapers, KPXJ 21
(Shreveport, LA), Killeen Daily Herald, Aberdeen
American News, InsideNova, Kankakee
Daily Journal, Monterey
County Weekly, Olean
Times Herald, The
Greeneville Sun and more. Follow William on Twitter @iii_haupt.
https://tennesseeconservativenews.com/if-all-government-is-local-so-are-elections/
