For years, I’ve been asking Charlottesville City Council to move the elections from May to November. (See the transcript of my last presentation to them on the topic, in July of 2003.) At Monday night’s Council meeting, voter registrar Sheri Iachetta issued her office’s official recommendation, which is (unsurprisingly) that the elections must be November.
This isn’t hard. People don’t think about voting except for in November. Elections should be in November, all on the the same day. With turnout of 22%, it’s plain that May just ain’t working. Plus, students are in the throes of exams in early May, so UVa students don’t participate in the elections. (Some prefer that; I certainly do not.) November is preferable to them, too. Most important, it will save a lot of money — $32,000 per election, since the city won’t have to run a special election every two years.
Of course, the city still has to follow up on this. This is the second time that they’ve received this recommendation from Sherri Iachetta, and I’m not sure that anything is different this time around. Here’s hoping I’m wrong.