May vs. November
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Meyera Oberndorf - LOST. Reba McClanan - LOST. Neither has ever lost a re-election battle since they first won when Jimmy Carter was President. This year, Virginia Beach local elections were moved from May to November, and neither survived it.
And lots of folks noticed, and are floating the idea of moving them back to the safe comforts of May before, well, before they have to run in November.
November 2008 saw nearly 200,000 voters to the polls, but that was with a Presidential, Senatorial and Congressional race. 2006, without a Prez, saw 125,000 and 2002, with John Warner basically unopposed, it was 90,000.
Still it’s way more than the 50-60,000 who routinely vote in May.
So, here come the myths of why we should like small turnout May elections over what happened in 2008.
1) the Voters are Uneducated argument - This is the notion that people who vote in low turnout elections know more than those who turnout in large ones. Well, heck, if that’s logical, why have elections at all? Let’s elect by caucus. Let’s have people sign up for a convention and choose City Council that way. If low turnout voters are smarter than high turnout voters, imagine how much smarter convention attendees would be.
Anyone who gives this argument needs to be asked “Exactly which voters this November are you calling uneducated?” If they make the assertion, they need to back it up with facts. Or, at least, offer their position on the poll tax.
2) the May keeps local elections non-partisan argument - Except for the fact that the same City Council members love bragging about their endorsements from this Republican or that Democrat. Chesapeake’s political parties endorse in their May elections.
3) the May campaigns are less expensive argument - Unfortunately, no one told the campaigns about this. May has seen routine 6-figure campaigns and several over $200,000 in Virginia Beach. Outside of Will Sessoms’ record-setting run, no one in November broke the $200,000 barrier. The fundraising playing field was more level this year than May has been lately.
There were fewer newspaper ads, fewer tv spots and radio ads were mostly absent until the final week. City Council races this year were less expensive than recent Mays.
4) the “Incumbents like May” argument - Except for May losers Richard Maddox, Jim Reeve, Barbara Henley, Margaret Eure, Don Weeks, Louisa Strayhorn.
5) the “May is more grassroots” argument - May elections last 60 days and the first 30 is spent scheduling civic league forums and the last 30 is spent having them. Weeks go by with nothing on the schedule. November elections are almost 5 months after the filing deadline. There were more candidate forums this year than I ever remember for City Council, sometimes 3 or 4 the same week.
6) the “Confusing Ballot” argument - With little dropoff between the Presidential and Mayoral contests, it seemed to me that voters were smart enough to vote in both federal and local races combined. If anything was confusing, it’s the way a seat named “Kempsville” can be voted on by people who live at the oceanfront, and that confusion happens every May. That’s not November’s fault. That’s the fault of an at-large/district system that looks like a ward system but isn’t.
Let’s remember May elections were started to control elections with special interests and depressed turnouts. When two titans tumble, old protectionist habits that died hard might be resuscitated.
That only happens if no one questions their reasons.
on 
For once, we agree.
Let me point out that the Code of Virginia has no mechanism for moving them from November to May.
[...] As you might expect, Brian Kirwin and I rarely agree on anything But in his post “May vs November,” Kirwin lays out the arguments against November elections and dismantles them. Take note: we [...]
Yeah, but May elections for local offices make my life easier. Let’s not lose sight of that.
I’m all for November elections, but I think more needed to have been done to let people know all the races that are on the ballot. I had many stop by my office thanking me for a spreadsheet I sent out with the info. They had no idea that they were voting for City Council and the School Board.
Any proposal that reduces the NUMBER of election days is okay by me. i think it’s ridiculous that there are special elections year-round in Virginia. If i recall correctly, there was a House of Delegates special election ONE WEEK after the Democratic primary this year. That’s a huge waste of money, and a major reason for voter apathy. If i wrote the law, i’d keep it to 3 days a year for any election, primary or general or runoff. One day in March, one day in July, and of course one day in November. Ideally, i would have only 2 a year, but that wouldn’t fly, especially in a federal election year.
For what it’s worth, i thought it was absurd that in my part of Norfolk, there were only 2 contests, prez and senator. All that waiting for 2 minutes in the booth. Sheesh, give me something else to vote for, a constitutional amendment, dog catcher, some bond referendum, anything!
[...] Virginia Beach elected officials aren’t happy with local elections coinciding with national and state elections held in November. One can understand why. I mean, the ousting of many officials with decades of service has to make everyone a little more edgy as they recognize just how much more volatile an election can be when you go from 16% turnout to 70%. That understanding aside, the arguments being made for a push to move local elections back to may are more than a bit asinine. Brian Kirwin over at Bearing Drift has an excellent breakdown of these arguments and reasons why they are invalid. [...]