Our View: Want more voters? Get rid of off-year elections

Why are we having an election on Tuesday?

The obvious answer, to elect public officials and decide important policy questions, misses the point. Why are we having any elections this year?

There’s no election in San Joaquin County or Merced, Tuolumne or Sacramento counties. In fact, most California counties have abandoned odd-year elections. Stanislaus County should, too.

There are plenty of good reasons: We would attract more voters, quite likely make better decisions and even save some money.

▪ The best reason to get rid of off-year elections is that so few people vote. During even-numbered years, when we elect governors and presidents, up to 70 percent of Stanislaus County’s 235,000 registered voters take part. During odd-year elections, that plummets to 22 or even 21 percent.

“If you’re looking to boost turnout, consolidating elections is a great way to do it,” said Eric McGhee, a research analyst with the Public Policy Institute of California. “All these off-year, off-cycle, special elections have abysmal turnout. They never produce anything but abysmal turnout.”

Who are these diehard voters? Well, they’re not typical of all citizens.

“One of the big concerns ... is that you’re getting a different kind of person,” McGhee said.

We’ve got nothing against older, whiter, wealthier residents doing their civic duty – if they didn’t, hardly anyone would bother. But when only one “subset” votes, is it really a democracy?

“It raises questions about the legitimacy of democratic government,” a group of PPIC researchers wrote in 2002. “If a small minority of the population elects city, state, and national leaders, political institutions and elected officials may lack the broad support and confidence necessary to govern effectively.”

In an increasingly diverse community, getting buy-in becomes essential. Besides, those casual voters are better informed than you might think, McGhee said.

“It’s not their job to be experts; their job is to get a broad sense of what’s going on with these policies,” McGhee said. “If you ask them about the details of a particular issue, they won’t be able to answer; that doesn’t mean they can’t make a decision that’s in their best interest. … They do a much better job than you might think.”

There’s always a flip side. By consolidating elections – as 32 of California’s 58 counties have done – there’s a risk that ballots will become even longer. With so much to decide, voters might give down-ballot races and propositions scant attention. But McGhee says the number of voters who lose interest in lengthy ballots pales in comparison to those who simply don’t vote in odd-year elections.

▪ Abandoning off-year elections saves money. Considering the county registrar’s staff time, printing the ballots, operating polling sites, transporting ballots, then counting the votes – the cost is substantial. Stanislaus County estimated the cost of putting Measure H on the ballot could be as much as $90,000 – or around $1 for every Modesto voter.

▪ Finally, off-year elections are obsolete. First established as part of the Progressive reforms a century ago, off-year elections were established to counter the power of urban party bosses. Reformers, led by Hiram Johnson, also insisted on nonpartisan races, voter initiatives and at-large elections.

But the pendulum has swung. The Voting Rights Act of 2015 is eliminating at-large elections and requirements for getting initiatives on the ballot are more difficult now than when first instituted. It’s time to abandon off-year elections, too.

That can only be done locally, and it won’t be easy. There are a great many races on those off-year ballots – 10 to 18 school districts; city council elections in Ceres, Modesto, Riverbank and other cities; irrigation district boards, and any number of special district seats. Many seats go unfilled as no one files to run.

It’s time to act. In the 14 (yes, 14!) Stanislaus County elections since 2009, only two attracted more than half of eligible voters; in 10, less than a third bothered to vote.

The Board of Supervisors should declare its intent to abandon off-year elections – setting a deadline for rewriting local charters and getting them on the ballot if necessary. Then, every city, school board and special district should amend its bylaws to conduct elections only on even-numbered years. When the county’s deadline passes, if a city or board wants an off-year election, the cost would be entirely on their shoulders.

We hope every eligible voter takes part in Tuesday’s election, but we know most won’t.

If that situation is OK with public officials, then they should do nothing. But it’s not OK with us. All elected officials should be doing their utmost to get more voters voting; the best way is to get rid of elections in odd-numbered years.

Elections are too important to be ignored.

This story was originally published October 31, 2015 at 11:18 PM with the headline "Our View: Want more voters? Get rid of off-year elections."