How to lure more voters in Modesto mayoral election? Easy. Try this

Now that the Modesto mayoral election finally has wrapped up — hearty congratulations to Mayor-elect Sue Zwahlen — it’s time to change the process.

Selecting our city’s leader in February, long after people have lost the political enthusiasm that had them whipped up in November, makes no sense. Single-issue February elections generate far less voter participation for an important position affecting more people directly than many other offices.

Modesto leaders can fix this problem by asking voters to change the city charter so that the first round of mayoral voting coincides with the nation’s presidential primary in the spring, with a runoff (if needed) piggybacking on the general election in November.

Back in the day, Modesto voters elected City Council leaders, including the mayor, in off (meaning odd) years, allowing candidates to focus on local issues without distractions from even-year state and federal races. We also chose the council at large, meaning voters all over Modesto voted for all candidates for all seven seats. That’s how things were laid out in the Modesto City Charter, a code outlining how the city runs.

Voting reform in Modesto

Several years ago, changes to the charter brought various pieces of election reform. The most visible were district elections, or choosing City Council leaders by geographic area instead of at large, and term limits.

The timing of council and mayor elections did not seem important at the time. The senselessness came into focus in November, when city elections finally moved from odd to even years. Now paired with the presidential election, votes cast in city races instantly doubled over previous years — a resounding success to those who value democracy in action.

However, a big structural difference remains between council races and the mayor’s race. The top vote-getter in council races wins the seat in November regardless of number of candidates. So victors sometimes assume office despite winning less than half the votes cast, a regular occurrence when you have more than two candidates for a given seat.

Tradition has it that a position as important as mayor should have the blessing of a majority of Modesto voters. That makes sense, but requires a runoff if no candidate amasses enough votes in November.

The result: Modesto’s last two mayors, Garrad Marsh and Ted Brandvold, both were elected by a mere 29% of registered voters, respectively in February 2012 and February 2016, in elections drawing less than 28,000 total votes. That’s pathetic.

In November, nearly 84,000 people cast votes for eight Modesto mayoral candidates in the first voting round, reflecting more than 77% turnout. That’s a triumph of voter participation, fueled by uncommon interest in the presidential Trump v. Biden election as well as local races for Congress, California Senate and Assembly, school and irrigation boards, and more.

With the allure of exactly zero additional races, and when final results are tallied, a little more than 32,000 will have voted for either Zwahlen or Doug Ridenour in Tuesday’s mayoral runoff.

Maximizing turnout for Modesto mayor elections

The drop from 77% turnout in November to roughly 29% in February is disheartening. It also was totally predictable.

The buzz before the November election was palpable. People were into politics at unprecedented levels. More than three of four voters in Modesto and Stanislaus County took part.

Few would expect that level of sustained enthusiasm in January, when ballots were mailed to voters, and in early February when the election concluded.

The good news is that the fix is relatively easy.

Members of a reconvened charter review committee, whose meetings were suspended almost a year ago in the COVID-19 pandemic, must now propose aligning city and presidential elections. That means moving the the first round of Modesto elections to the spring primary (in 2022, it will be in June), with the mayor’s runoff in November — when everyone is engaged and excited about politics.

Modesto deserves a mayor chosen by as many voters as possible. That is far more likely to happen in November than February.

This story was originally published February 8, 2021 at 5:00 AM.