All politics is local. Yet, your average Delawarean probably cannot name their state Representative or Senator. They definitely cannot name their County Councilman. Sure, they can name their President, their Vice President, and they can probably name their two U.S. Senators and Congressman, and their Governor. But as for their real local representatives in their actual town, city or county, forget about it.
And if you don’t know who your local representative is, the chances are you don’t know when the local election is. Middletown recently had an election that apparently no one knew about, and because no one knew about it, it is going to be rescheduled and redone. There, the annual election was Monday, but then we the “Blizzard of ’09” hit, and the election was delayed a day. Problem was no one got notice of the rescheduling. But even if they had gotten notice, or even if there was no snowstorm at all and the vote was held on Monday as planned, can you guess what the turnout would be? At best, my guess is in the low 20’s, and I am being optimistic. 20% turnout.
I am of the opinion that we have too many elections in this country. And no, I am not being undemocratic when I say that, in fact, I say with that with a concern for more democratic participation. When you have an election somewhere every week, or every month, elections begin to lose their importance. They become routine. The press covers them less. The public cares about them less, to the point that they do not vote in it. And who wins in that scenario? The establishment, those already in power.
If I had my druthers, I would reform all local, state and federal elections so that there is one primary day every two years, preferrably in the late spring, and one general election day every two years, on the first Tuesday of November as provided for in the Constitution. The only exception I would make is the Presidential Primary system every four years, as that must be spaced out over a period of months in the several states rather than have one national primary day. Otherwise, every elected official in the country, from Middletown city council to President of the United States, would be elected on the same day by the same voters. It would increase participation down the ballot to the local races, and hopefully would increase awareness of the local official who is responsible for fixing that pothole or raising your school taxes.