In a recently published letter, Dan Cannon continues to assail me for not agreeing with his position that municipal elections should be held as part of our general elections (“There are many reasons to increase municipal voter registration,” Jan. 17).
Mr. Cannon is correct that municipal elections typically have low citizen participation. As he noted, only 12% of eligible voters took part in the city of Seaford’s elections last April. He is also correct that moving municipal elections to Election Day would result in more people casting ballots for city and town office-seekers.
However, his underlying assumption that greater participation equals better outcomes is a false equivalence.
The Sussex County Association of Towns, the Delaware League of Local Governments and the Delaware School Boards Association all oppose moving local races to the general election. Not only do these organizations believe such a move could politicize these nonpartisan contests, but they are also rightfully concerned that local elections would be lost amid the commotion of statewide and national campaigns.
It is absurd to believe that voters coming to the polls to vote in a gubernatorial or presidential race will also be making informed decisions on the races at the bottom of the ballot. I would ask every person reading this letter to ask themselves this question truthfully: When you step into the voting booth, after the first four or five races on the ballot, are you typically familiar with any of the candidates or their platforms?
As decades of political polling have repeatedly indicated, too many citizens already make their decisions on candidates based solely on party affiliation — a situation that is only getting worse as political polarization has increased. So how are these voters making their choices in local nonpartisan contests, where the hopefuls are not running under the banner of any political party?
Mr. Cannon continues to ignore addressing the massive flaw in his myopic argument — how does having more votes cast in local races result in better government if the citizens making those choices are not familiar with the candidates and their positions? Moving local elections to Election Day would result in a foolish exchange, trading a small number of engaged, knowledgeable citizens making informed choices for a larger number of voters making random selections. Spinning a wheel of fortune and hoping for a good result is not how a democratic government should operate.
We can and should work to improve citizen participation in city, town and school board elections. We should dedicate additional resources to involve and educate voters. And we should consider thinking outside the box on expanding the scope of voting options. These steps would be more difficult and expensive than simply changing the election date but would hold the promise of a better, more sound process.
Rep. Danny Short
R-Seaford
