This is a headline we really hope not to see next Wednesday, after the Tuesday referendum vote in the City of Falls Church about when local elections should take place, in May or November:
“F.C. Citizens Vote to Restrict Turnouts in Future Elections.”
That’s what the truth of the matter would be if a majority of Falls Church voters who come to the polls next Tuesday votes “No” to favor keeping local City Council and School Board elections in May, instead of voting “Yes” on the referendum to switch those elections to November.
There’s no question that citizens are far more apt to vote in November, a fact confirmed by the data showing turnouts are almost twice as high, on average, in November elections as in May ones.
It is simply a matter of providing more of our citizens the opportunity to vote, as the numbers prove is far more likely to happen in November. In May, apparently, busy citizens are not accustomed to voting and, if anything, may be preoccupied about voting in June primaries rather than May municipal races.
Those Falls Church citizens have voted to be their representatives in the Virginia state legislature all strongly favor the enfranchisement of a maximum of voters. Retiring State Sen. Mary Margaret Whipple and State Del. Jim Scott, not to mention State Sen. Dick Saslaw, who is running for re-election to represent Falls Church (after last spring’s redistricting) all favor a “Yes” vote Tuesday to move elections to November.
Del. Scott’s comment was one of the most poignant: “The whole point of the civil rights movement was to increase the vote,” he said. Scott was a part of that movement in his earlier North Carolina days.
His remark says it all. Are we going to continue moving forward to strengthen democracy by involving as many citizens as possible to participate, or are we going to recoil and turn back the clock?
While local elections are not, and cannot by Virginia law, be partisan, it is noted that the Falls Church Republican Committee favors lower voter turnouts by keeping local elections in May, and the City’s Democratic Committee favors the move to November, because it will contribute to the participation of more citizens in the voting process.
A serious problem will persist if the referendum fails Tuesday and virtually mandated lower voter turnouts are written into Falls Church law and lore.
Those responsible will have to explain to their children why they did the opposite of what the civil rights movement was all about. Those children are learning about Dr. Martin Luther King, the Freedom Riders and the courageous efforts to overcome racial prejudice by empowering minorities, often clashing with authorities in order to register them to vote. Then there was the women’s suffrage struggle.
The whole point was to empower people by empowering their ability to vote. We strongly urge a “Yes” vote on the referendum next Tuesday.