Why in the world would people want to move Town of Christiansburg elections from May to November? Well, there is the argument that it could cause greater citizen participation in selecting government officials. Some argue that this would cost them the opportunity to stand around and visit with candidates before they vote (I personally think a Town picnic in May would be a great way for existing and potential elected officials to meet with a lot more citizens. It isn’t very likely that anyone going to vote is going to change their minds because they stopped on their way into the polls to talk about things.)
However, across the State of Virginia and across the Nation, there is a trend to move those May elections to November for the sole purpose of saving taxpayer money! I have included here a lot of links to relevant newspaper articles discussing this topic. Proposed savings to tax payers range from $3,500 to $75,000 in the costs of elections. An additional issue that is discussed in many of these is that past election costs will not be the same as future election costs due to the amount of money that has been reduced from State Budgets. When State money is cut, your local jurisdictions will have to pick up the price tag. Look for future May elections to set records in cost. In Christiansburg, this will be further compounded as rapid growth has now given us the population counts that will make it mandatory to have 2 polling places in the future rather than just one. (Wonder how those people who argue that they won’t get to see and talk with their favorite candidates will deal with that? It’s not like candidates can be two places at once. Maybe candidates can schedule which of the polling places they will be at and people can sell existing homes and buy new ones in those areas if necessary. Kinda makes the May Town picnic look even better to me.)
Any way, here is what is happening across Virginia and the US concerning moving of voting dates to November from May and why it is being done:
- Altavista, VA
- Alexandria City, VA and Alexandria City, VA 2 and Alexandria, VA 3
- Sparta, NJ
- Evansham Township, NJ
- Delran, NJ Also Delran, NJ 2
- Guthrie Township, Minnesota
- Virginia Beach, VA
- Staunton, VA
- Dunedin, FL
- Cape Elizabeth, ME
- Manassas Park, VA
- Chattanooga City, TN
Those are just a few of the many such sites that I found. Feel free to look further:)
What I find most ironic is that at the recent WSLS Town Hall meeting, the Mayor, Richard “Dick” Ballengee, (see I remember his name even if he usually addresses me as “that lady”), pointed out that the reason a referendum to change the Christiansburg vote was so that citizens/voters would make the choice, rather than have it changed for them like Blacksburg. You’ll note that many of these articles above refer to a little used process in the Town of Christiansburg. Public Hearings about big issues like $15+ million Aquatic Centers, where issues are presented to the public and a series of public meetings are held for input from citizens to be obtained. Had the Town of Christiansburg been supporting the move, that is how it would have been handled. If they had wanted citizens to know about the real cost of the Aquatic Center, this is what they would have done. Just exactly what issues do current council members feel are important enough to elicit public input? Might make a good question for future candidate forums.
Coming soon will be exerts from all town meeting and candidate forums that were recorded where the issue of moving the voting date are discussed. Citizens need to know all the facts in order to make decisions that are right for them.
