I am responding to a recently published letter in which Dan Cannon took issue with me for not supporting his position that municipal elections should be held as part of our general elections (“Why municipal voting should be combined with general elections,” Nov. 30).
Mr. Cannon contrasts the 12% voter turnout during the city of Seaford’s elections last April with the 69% voter participation in the 2020 general election, maintaining that having more citizens casting votes would lead to better outcomes. It is a well-intentioned but flawed argument.
Mr. Cannon’s suggestion is not new, innovative or insightful. It has been proposed and rejected many times — both for school board and municipal elections. The Sussex County Association of Towns, the Delaware League of Local Governments and the Delaware School Boards Association all oppose it. Their rationale is that moving local, nonpartisan contests to the general election will politicize these races. Additionally, they believe the elections to fill these important posts will be lost amidst the chaotic noise of statewide and national campaigns.
There was a 69% turnout in the 2020 general election, but those people were driven to the polls by the high-profile presidential and gubernatorial races, not their interest in anything down the ballot. Consider the recently concluded general election. Without the big-ticket races, the off-year elections garnered less than a 43% turnout.
A multitude of Delaware political candidates — myself included — collectively spent millions of dollars on every conceivable way to promote themselves and motivate people to cast ballots in this election cycle. Add to that the uncounted thousands of man-hours by vast numbers of volunteers calling, texting and speaking directly to citizens. And the additional coverage of media outlets. The result was that more than 57% of eligible voters still choose not to participate.
The flaw in Mr. Cannon’s thinking is that higher voter turnout equates to more engaged voters. If municipal races were on the general election ballot, more people would likely cast votes for local candidates. But how many of these voters would know anything about the people for whom they were voting?
Municipal campaigns are run on the thinnest of budgets, with little to no volunteer help. Tossing these races into the pandemonium of the general election will do nothing but guarantee that they get lost in the shuffle. How does having more people casting votes on unfamiliar candidates result in better outcomes? Selecting officeholders by random chance is not a solution.
Mr. Cannon and I agree that we would both like to see more voter participation in municipal elections. The difference is I believe that such participation should be in the form of engaged citizens making informed choices.
Perhaps the answer is not moving the date of municipal and school board elections but better state promotion of these races, giving these nonpartisan contests the attention they deserve.
Rep. Danny Short, R-Seaford
