Is Low Voter Participation Better? Some in Brentwood Think So

Susan Leathers' BrentWord blog did some investigating on why Brentwood doesn't hold its municipal elections in conjunction with state or federal elections in November to attract more voters than the 14%-15% that typically come out on the first Tuesday in May.

Included among the responses to her question was this gem from Brentwood City Attorney Roger Horner:

Susan –
The City Charter allows the election date to be set on any date that is within 90 days of the anniversary of the first election, OR on the same date as the November elections. In 1987, the Board of Commissioners did take action to move the City’s election date to November, in an effort to get more people to participate in electing commissioners. Then, in 1992, it was changed again, this time to the first Tuesday in May.
The benefit of having a separate election, as opposed to combining it with state and national elections, is that the voters who turn out are focused on municipal issues. While moving the City’s election to November would bring out more voters, it’s likely that you’d get a lot of voters that haven’t taken time to acquaint themselves with the local issues or the candidates. Better to have a smaller number of informed voters than to have a large number of people who may just be pushing buttons without thinking it through.
Roger
City Attorney

Really, Roger? "Better to have a smaller number of informed voters than to have a large number of people who may just be pushing buttons without thinking through."

So, better participation automatically means those voters are less informed and just push buttons without thinking it through? What evidence do you have to support this? That the City Attorney would think such a thought is one thing, that he would provide it as an official response reveals a deeper problem.

If the move to November elections did increase participation, it's rather curious why the date was switched back to May. The move back to May, according to Mr. Horner, happened in 1992. (Two years after the arrival of Mike Walker as City Manager, coincidentally). The City Manager's response to BrentWord's question included this statement:

"The local election becomes relegated to the same status on the ballot as, for example, voting for a state Supreme Court judge or court of appeals judge." 

Again, that's one person's OPINION and discounts the many people who do pay attention to federal, state, and local issues equally. That two of Brentwood's highest-ranking employees would prefer low voter turnout to greater participation reflects poorly on a City sometimes labeled by those looking in from the outside as "elite".

We're going to do some more research on this issue for a future post. It just demanded a quick response at this time. Stay tuned for more.