TU: Councilman wants Jacksonville voters to decide whether to move elections

[Patricia M. McBride]

This is an important issue and for me, at least, the 2.5 million the city would save is the least important thing in this discussion.   Given the size of our city and the number of local elected offices, this, if passed, would take the spot light totally off our city elections and put it on the national elections which will not be a good thing for our city and it's residents.  You would also have people who voted for local candidates, but they would be voting blind without really knowing anything about the candidates, and only voting because the election was listed on a ballot with national elections.  It would make the attempts to get more people involved in the city and our elections less likely to happen as well.  It would make involvement in campaigns and media coverage of local candidates and the city issues take a back seat to national elections and on and on.  It would also make it harder for local candidates to get volunteers to work on their campaigns or get involved!  It is a total lose/lose with no real benefit as the money that would be better saved else where.  In a time when we are giving more than this several times a year in corporate welfare, it would seem that might be the place to start or a duplicate commission or committee?    

 

By Steve Patterson

 November 7, 2011 - 02:16am

Councilman wants Jacksonville voters to decide whether to move elections

Since 2005, Jacksonville’s City Council has voted at least 11 times on bills about moving the city’s election dates.

Round 12 will be settled Tuesday.

Councilman Matt Schellenberg wants voters to decide in 2012 whether to move city voting from springtime in odd-numbered years to the even-year, fall election cycle when the governor is chosen.

Knowing voters turned down a different fall election plan last year isn’t slowing him up.

“The fact that it’s been sold five times doesn’t mean it’s been done well,” said Schellenberg, who says the city might save $2.5 million — or more — every time it holds city and state elections jointly.

“It is a money issue. The city should look at every opportunity to save money,” said the first-term councilman.

If the council agrees with Schellenberg, and voters say yes next year, election dates would shift in 2018.

That would mean the mayor, sheriff, other countywide officials and council members would be sworn in six months earlier than now scheduled.

Schellenberg said he talked with voters about the date change when he campaigned for election this year, making it part of a list of cost-saving ideas he used in stump speeches.

But skeptics say the real cost of combining election schedules could be having city races overlooked in a season of high-profile state contests. That could mean voters would spend less time considering campaigns and debates that are close to home.

“Local issues will get lost. ... Regardless of when you have the city elections, it ought to be separate,” Councilman Bill Bishop argued before the Rules Committee he chairs approved the referendum bill (2011-654) on a 4-3 vote.

Bishop reminded committee members of the flood of television ads and news stories that surrounded last year’s contest between Gov. Rick Scott and Democrat Alex Sink.

“Where do you think the Jacksonville issues are going to be in a race like that?” he said.

Councilman John Crescimbeni was more blunt.

“You think it’s tough running for office. ... You’re chopped liver” during a statewide election, said Crescimbeni, a council veteran who ran in 2008 to fill a mid-term vacancy.

He said his at-large race was the 14th item on the ballot that year, and about 38,000 fewer people cast votes in that contest than in the No. 1 race, which happened to be for the country’s presidency.

“I’ve been there, been in both situations,” Crescimbeni told Rules Committee members. “It’s a heck of a lot easier in spring elections, for a lot of reasons.”

The same worries have been cited before by the Concerned Taxpayers of Duval County, a group that normally favors cost-cutting, as reasons to keep city elections on a separate schedule.

Savings on new elections could vary year by year, Supervisor of Elections Jerry Holland told Rules members.

Without moving races to even years, Bishop and others have praised the idea of moving elections to the fall so a mayor and council taking office Jan. 1 will have more time to develop a city budget. The current July 1 inauguration happens just two weeks before a budget is proposed and three months before it’s signed into law.

Last year’s referendum, which failed on a 4 percent margin, would have kept city elections in odd years.

Schellenberg said that idea gave voters little incentive to say yes, because it didn’t save any money.

Tuesday’s vote might be close, he said, but he’s ultimately just asking to let voters speak their minds.

And Schellenberg said talks during the campaign make him think voters might agree with him.

“I made a list of things, and this is one of the things that can save money,” he said. “And you know what? No one out in the field has said no.”

Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2011-11-07/story/councilman-want...