The charter of the city of Alexandria mandates elections for city offices be held in May, while Virginia code dictates that Arlington County conduct its elections in November. Officials in each jurisdiction said their respective systems have their advantages but also present challenges.
Alexandria holds elections for city officials in May every three years, according to city General Registrar Tom Parkins. All of the City Council members are up for election at the same time.
Parkins said turnout for elections in May is low because there are no federal races on the ballot, leading to discussion of amending the city charter to move the elections to November to align them with federal elections.
“The local elections by themselves tend to turn out fewer voters than statewide of federal elections,” Parkins said.
City spokesman Brian Hannigan said there were discussions of addressing the election issue last May, after Mayor William Euille ran unopposed, bringing out only 19.8 percent of city voters. He said no one he spoke with in city government was aware of a formal effort to look into the issue.
In Arlington, elections for local officials are held each November. Unlike in Alexandria, only one County Board member is up for election each year, giving each member a five-year term.
Arlington Registrar of Voters Linda Lindberg said the main benefit of November elections is they typically produce the high turnout Alexandria lacks.
“What we have seen in the cities in recent years … is there isn’t that much of a turnout in May elections, and they’re spending a lot of money” to hold the elections, she said. “Why not move them to November?”
May elections do have the advantage of allowing voters to concentrate strictly on local issues, whereas November elections tie local and federal issues together, Lindberg added.
Jeffrey Miller, chairman of Arlington County Republicans, said this is a drawback of Arlington’s system.
“It really hurts voters,” he said. “They don’t have the opportunity to focus on local issues.”
Miller also said having only one County Board member up for re-election every year prevents voters from passing judgment on the board as a whole. He said the congressional elections this year, in which voters gave control of Congress to Democrats, is an example of why the entire board should be up for election at one time.
