On Thursday, Jan. 21, the State Senate will vote on SB 1157, a bill that moves all local elections to the November General Election. This is a bad bill for localities.
Local elections are often overshadowed by larger races to the point that they are forgotten. To avoid this, some localities have chosen to hold their local elections in May, when their candidates can get their message out without having to compete for time on voters’ minds with presidential, gubernatorial, congressional races.
Between town council and congress, who do you think will get more attention from the average voter?
Enter the infamous sample ballot voter. Turnout is always highest in a presidential year. Or turnout can be drastically increased by a well-funded governor candidate. The down ballot affect from this can be significant. Voters can just vote down party ID thanks to the sample ballot.
All politics is local. When you have national elections and national policies, or statewide policies, driving turnout that directly affects local races then you have a problem at the local level with a mandate to serve. Keeping local elections local is the best policy.
Reach out to your State Senator (contact info linked here) and ask them to vote NAY on SB 1157.
