EDITORIAL: Voters have choices, must engage in municipal elections

Several citizens have stepped up to give city voters choices in this spring’s municipal elections. Now the disinterested electorate must raise its game and actually engage. The direction of this valley depends on it.

Because Southern Nevada’s municipal elections take place in the spring of odd-numbered years, just months removed from big-money state and federal general elections, burned-out voters are checked out. Embarrassingly low turnout barely cracks double digits, which discourages viable candidates from challenging incumbents. After all, how can you build name recognition if no one is paying attention?

But this spring, challengers have signed up in every City Council race in Las Vegas, Henderson and North Las Vegas, ensuring that current officeholders will have to make a case to keep their jobs.

Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman wasn’t expected to draw a viable challenger. But she relentlessly championed a city-subsidized soccer stadium that constituents consistently, firmly said they did not want. That prompted Councilman Stavros Anthony, the mayor pro tem, to jump in the mayor’s race to give seething taxpayers a candidate they could support.

In fact, taxpayer concern over city stewardship and spending is a defining issue in all three municipalities. Some Las Vegas City Council members have agitated for higher taxes. A proposal from the city of Henderson to increase property taxes angered residents, who have seen administrators cut programs and services while increasing compensation for one of the best-paid government workforces in the nation. Meanwhile, North Las Vegas barely avoided state receivership over its financial insecurity, and the city still isn’t out of the woods.

Incumbents have provided challengers with openings. We’re not suggesting that every person who has filed for office will have a viable campaign or put in the necessary work to win voter support. In fact, some seem to have already disappeared, just a couple of weeks after entering their races. But all these challengers cared enough to write the check for the filing fee and give voters a choice, rather than make these council races coronations for incumbents.

Voters need to pay attention, starting right now, because there might not be a June general election. Municipal primary elections, unlike statewide primaries, give candidates a chance to win outright. If a race has more than two candidates and no one gets a majority of votes, the top two finishers advance to a June runoff. However, if a candidate gets a majority of votes in the primary — 50 percent plus one vote — that candidate wins the seat.

Municipal primary election day is April 7, with early voting beginning March 21. The Review-Journal’s news pages will provide coverage of every municipal race, and the editorial page will issue endorsements next month.

We’ve long advocated consolidating city ballots with statewide elections. It would save tax dollars and engage more voters in city politics and policies. When barely 10 percent of city voters are choosing their leaders, city councils cannot credibly claim to have the support of their constituents.

But this year, city residents have powerful, pocketbook reasons to pay attention to municipal ballots — and they have choices. Do your civic duty. Research the candidates and the issues, then vote.