CALIFORNIA FOCUS
FOR RELEASE: FRIDAY, AUGUST 29, 2014, OR THEREAFTER
BY THOMAS D. ELIAS
“CHANGING LOCAL ELECTION DATES: DEMS SEEK MORE DOMINATION”
FOR RELEASE: FRIDAY, AUGUST 29, 2014, OR THEREAFTER
BY THOMAS D. ELIAS
“CHANGING LOCAL ELECTION DATES: DEMS SEEK MORE DOMINATION”
No one knows better than Democratic Party politicians that voters
who tend to support them are at high tide in November general elections during
even-numbered years when offices like President and governor and U.S. senator
are at stake.
Turnouts
are far lower in primary elections, special elections and those held in some
cities during odd-numbered years.
That’s
the main reason why voters last June saw no citizen-inspired initiatives on
their primary election ballots – and also a big reason why the turnout
then was a record low for a primary election. Turnout was also depressed
because Gov. Jerry Brown was virtually unopposed in his party and a shoo-in to
move on to November.
Knowing all this, Democrats who
control city councils from Sunnyvale to Livermore to Santa Monica have for
several years been placing measures on local ballots aiming to consolidate
their votes with the wider elections held every other November.
These measures usually pass by margins
of 70 percent or greater, as voters would rather do their chores all at once
and not be bothered in odd-numbered years. They also don’t mind the fact that
consolidation saves millions of tax dollars around the state.
If maximum public participation is the
goal, this is a good thing. Look what happened in the last municipal election
in Los Angeles, California’s largest city: Eric Garcetti became mayor by about
a 54-46 percent margin over fellow Democrat Wendy Gruel in balloting where only
about 13 percent of city residents voted. This means Garcetti, whose position
makes him influential in both state and national affairs, was actually elected
by about 7 percent of U.S. citizen Angelenos. How representative is that?
So it should be no surprise that an
election reform commission appointed by Garcetti and City Council President
Herb Wesson (a former state Assembly speaker) now calls for a local proposition
to move Los Angeles elections into even-numbered years.
There’s also no doubt that shifting
votes to even-numbered years, with runoffs in November, is good for Democrats.
“This will especially increase turnout of African Americans, Latinos and Asian
Americans,” said Loyola Marymount University Prof. Fernando Guerra, the
commission chairman.
As it happens, all those groups have
voted overwhelmingly for Democrats over the last decade or more, the only
exceptions coming when muscleman actor Arnold Schwarzenegger twice ran for
governor.
So the election consolidation moves,
besides increasing voter turnout, are also likely to increase Democratic
control of cities making those changes.
The same theory applied to ballot
initiatives when the Democratic-dominated Legislature voted three years ago to
put them all in Novembers of
even-numbered years, except when a statewide special election is called before then.
When he signed that switch into law,
Gov. Jerry Brown took note of the hugely greater turnout in general elections
over primaries. “This is the essence of democracy,” Brown said. He noted that
in 2010, when he ran in both June and November, 10.3 million voters turned out
in the fall compared with just 5.7 million in the June primary. At the time, a
Field Poll found that majorities of voters of all parties supported the switch.
But this spring, with no initiatives
on the primary ballot and nothing much else at stake in most districts, turnout
fell to a record low, well below 2010 levels.
It will likely come back up again this
fall, when measures on subjects from gambling to health insurance rates should
galvanize voter interest.
The switch to autumn-only for
initiatives gets California back to where things were prior to 1970, when
citizen-inspired measures first appeared in primary votes. Republicans plainly
don’t like the reversion, knowing important issues will be decided when
Democratic voting is at its apex.
“This kind of political game-playing
sends a clear message that the governor and Legislature have no intention of
working in a bipartisan manner,” Bob Dutton, then the state Senate’s minority
leader, said when Brown signed off on the switch.
Right now, though, there’s only one
thing Republicans can do to avoid having more cities and more initiative
results dominated by Democrats: Sign up new voters and try to get their party –
now trailing by about 15 percent in voter registration – back to parity with
the Democrats.
-30-
Email Thomas Elias at tdelias@aol.com. His book, "The Burzynski Breakthrough, The Most Promising Cancer Treatment and the Government’s Campaign to Squelch It," is now available in a soft cover fourth edition. For more Elias columns, visit www.californiafocus.net
Email Thomas Elias at tdelias@aol.com. His book, "The Burzynski Breakthrough, The Most Promising Cancer Treatment and the Government’s Campaign to Squelch It," is now available in a soft cover fourth edition. For more Elias columns, visit www.californiafocus.net
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