Abysmal turnout spurs talk of municipal election change

First, check out a couple of fun facts.

In Las Vegas' 2007 mayoral primary, Oscar Goodman, all by himself, got 26,845 votes, crushing his opponents and cruising to re-election.

In the 2009 city primary this week, votes in all three of the races on the ballot -- which included an open City Council seat and another hard-fought council contest -- totaled 25,704, about 1,000 less than were cast in a single race where the outcome was pretty much preordained.

That's not an apples-to-apples comparison, of course. Mayors are elected citywide while council votes come from defined wards, and a mayor's contest, especially one involving someone as well-known as Goodman, will always draw more attention.

But it's a good illustration of the dismal turnout in local municipal elections, which in good years barely cracks double digits.

"This is sad," said Las Vegas Councilman Steve Ross on Tuesday night after winning re-election by a 10 percent margin -- that is, by about 400 votes.

"I'm making phone calls to people all day long and they don't even know there's an election," he said. "We just had a great presidential election, and now here we are back in a municipal race and people don't know it."

To boost turnout, or at least interest, there are those in favor of putting Las Vegas, Henderson, North Las Vegas, Mesquite and Boulder City on the state election calendar, as cities in Northern Nevada did decades ago.

That would mean all cities in the state would have elections at the same time that people vote for federal, state and county candidates.

A bill to make that change by 2012 emerged from a legislative committee Thursday and needs a successful floor vote in the Assembly by April 21 to stay alive.

"It's a bill that's been around a long time," said Assemblyman Tick Segerblom, D-Las Vegas and sponsor of the legislation. "Given the budget crisis and the cost savings, and that municipal turnout gets lower and lower, this might be the year."

It's been estimated that the five cities could save a combined $1 million by not holding separate elections.

"There's just no way to justify the current system," Segerblom said.

The legislation would require some shuffling of re-election dates.

The city charters of Las Vegas, Henderson, North Las Vegas and Boulder city would need to be amended so that officials elected in 2007, including the term-limited Goodman, would have their terms extended for one year, and elections to fill those seats would take place in 2012.

In other cases, officials elected in 2009 would be up for re-election in 2012, and offices on the ballot in 2011 would be up again in 2014. The bill would also move up the state's primary vote to early June.

Goodman favors the change.

"Right now, maybe 10 percent of voters make a choice on officials who are going to be sitting on regional transportation commissions, on the convention authority, the health board, important boards, and they get elected with 1,300, 1,400 votes," he said. "There's something wrong with that."

The city of North Las Vegas does not support changing election dates, a spokeswoman said. Henderson's leaders have not taken a position on the legislation.

Changing local election dates isn't an unmitigated good, said Michael P. McDonald, a Brookings Institution fellow and associate professor at George Mason University.

"You generally will get higher turnout," he said, but that doesn't mean local elections get any additional attention.

The focus tends to be at the top of the ticket, where there would be contests for president, Congress and the governor's seat.

That's why his home state of Virginia continues to have state elections in odd-numbered years, despite the considerable additional expense.

"They don't want their elections to be contaminated by national issues," McDonald said. "Imagine a debate on immigration, and that becomes the most important issue. Now you have local candidates ... who have to react to something that's happening at the national level."

Many voters would know little about the local candidates on the ballot, and would either vote using nonrational criteria or not vote at all, he added.

There are pros and cons, said Clark County Commissioner Larry Brown, who campaigned for city office when he was a Las Vegas councilman and in the higher-profile statewide election cycle last year.

"Do you overwhelm the voter?" he asked. "How many people read through every initiative? How many of the judicial candidates do you really know?"

Still, the higher turnout and the fact that more voters are tuned in to the election place him in favor of the change.

"The determining factor would be convenience to the voter," Brown said. "What process is going to get the most voter participation? That's what we ideally aim for."

Contact reporter Alan Choate at achoate@reviewjournal.com or 702-229-6435.