Sunday, October 21, 2007
Four votes aren't enough
Christian Trejbal
Recent columns
- Radford University's president is overpaid
- The phantom parking shortage
- Republicans must wait until November
- Blacksburg renovates its farmers market
From the RoundTable blog
One of the beautiful things about America's representative democracy is its fixed terms for elected officials. If the people grow tired of a president or a clerk, they know they can vote him out in four years.
Such limits were an important insight by the Enlightenment thinkers who developed the philosophical and theoretical underpinnings of our system. No longer would someone rise to power and decide when he would leave office. No president or senator would declare he deserved just a little more time in office without the consent of the people.
Blacksburg Town Council is about to take the imperial course.
Mayor Ron Rordam and his colleagues want to move future elections from May to November.
Overall, it's a good idea. Council candidates would appear on the same ballots as congressional and presidential elections and ensure higher voter turnout.
The numbers are clear. Turnout in May is rarely much more than 20 percent. In the fall, it's two or three times that, or more.
There are plenty of arguments for and against a change. National elections would overshadow the town in November. Alternatively, perhaps, having the president on the ballot would get people's political juices flowing and they will pay more attention to local races.
Former Mayor Roger Hedgepeth worries the budget cycle is more amenable to May elections. Current Mayor Rordam hypothesizes Tech students and faculty would be less distracted in the fall than the spring and participate in their town. Some people even hope citizen activist groups might have less sway over election outcomes in the fall.
On balance, November looks like the better shot to have more people exercise their fundamental right to choose their government. At least it can't hurt.
Your thoughts
- Post to the message board
- Agree or disagree? Take the poll
No, the problem is not the change itself; it is how officials want to enact it.
The council will try to approve the change before January so it can take effect next year. If they succeed, sitting council members, who should face re-election in May, would get an extra six months in office without ever checking with the people.
Doesn't that rub them the wrong way? Do they think it's appropriate to declare unilaterally that they deserve a little more time in office without so much as a by your leave from voters?
Perhaps councilors plan to dress as Niccolò Machiavelli for Halloween. By delaying their re-election, public ire over the South Main development and the Prices Fork stadium will have more time to dissipate.
The council has a few options other than the imperial extension.
The obvious one, shortening their terms by six months instead of lengthening them, sounds good but has a fatal flaw. It would kick the elections into odd-numbered years. That would put councilors on the ballot with all of the other local races, including the board of supervisors and constitutional offices. Town council could get lost on those cluttered ballots.
Instead, the council might adopt the change now but delay implementation until after intervening elections. That would allow voters to go to the polls knowing that whomever they choose will serve a lengthened term.
Better yet, let voters decide whether they even want a November election. The council's job is to make tough decisions, but this isn't any old ordinance. They are contemplating altering the town's democratic structure, however seemingly innocuously.
The General Assembly specifically gave localities permission to hold a referendum on this. If people can collect enough petition signatures -- 10 percent of registered voters, about 1,450 in Blacksburg -- then the question goes on the ballot without any fuss.
If President Bush tried to extend his time in office by executive fiat, he might spark an uprising. Blacksburg residents probably wouldn't revolt, but they should demand a vote on who, if anyone, serves a longer term.
Trejbal is an editorial writer for The Roanoke Times based in the New River Valley bureau in Christiansburg.
