At first glance, it appears moving local spring elections to the fall is a good idea. No doubt, it would guarantee a larger voter turnout. THE DOWNSIDE to lumping all elections together is the competition for voter attention. DURING THIS legislative recess, contact Rep. Kent Thompson ([email protected]) and Sen. Caryn Tyson, ([email protected]) and tell them putting all elections on the same day will shortchange local races.
Last week’s voter turnout in Allen County was just shy of 27 percent, which, compared with some others was pretty high. Douglas County, home to Lawrence, was a dismal 16 percent; Topeka, a tepid 12 percent; Salina, a sickly 18 percent; and Wichita, a weak 16 percent.
Compared to last fall’s gubernatorial election, Tuesday’s turnout was almost half of the recorded 53 percent of Allen County voters casting ballots. And that’s down from 63 percent of registered voters participating in the 2012 general election.
Currently, local issues predominate in spring elections.
In Iola, our focus was on city and school elections. The Register was able to provide in-depth interviews with every candidate just a couple of weeks before Election Day.
There was no voter fatigue from endless robocalls with prerecorded messages by candidates.
Put those local races in with those for governor and legislators, much less a president, and you can see how quickly they would take a back seat.
The Kansas League of Municipalities, an organization that helps city and county governments with management issues, is opposed to the legislation to move all elections to the fall.
Besides overloading a ballot, the KLM contends the move would make the election season even more of a nightmare for county clerks; make for overlong ballots and increase the risk for error; and require amending all current ordinances, which would prove cost-prohibitive for city and county governments.
A cheaper and more effective way to increase voter turnout is to use mail ballots, which traditionally yield much higher returns. And soon on the horizon, surely, will be electronic voting done from one’s personal computer.
Before doing entirely away with the current system, trying mail ballots sounds like a prudent next step.
— Susan Lynn
Local elections would take a back seat if moved to the fall
