Low voter turnout has the Manassas Democratic Committee considering an effort to move the May elections back to November, but the group could be the only one in Northern Virginia to do so.
The May local elections in Manassas drew 11 percent of the city’s registered voters in 2002, and 20 percent voted in 2004. But for the 2004 presidential election, 68.3 of registered voters headed to the polls.
“We are not getting a turnout, and having the elections pushed up to November along with every other election … is much more indicative that people will turn out,” said Ed Johnson Jr., an MDC member.
Johnson said moving the election could save more than $10,000 in taxpayer funds, the cost of holding the May election.
Voter turnout for local elections is always lower than for a presidential or gubernatorial election, but those votes are still important, said Linda Womack, Manassas’ general registrar of elections.
“Everybody that comes to the polls, I feel, makes an extra effort to be involved and makes the extra effort to select candidates they feel will serve them,” she said.
In Alexandria, the Republicans prefer May elections.
“We can do more individual turnout and more direct contact with the people who actually come out and vote,” said Alexandria Republican Committee Chair Chris Marston.
In May 2000, 25 percent of Alexandria voters turned out,and 27 percent voted in 2003.
But the 2004 presidential election saw an 80 percent turnout in the city.
Tom Parkins, Alexandria’s registrar of voters, expects fewer than average this Tuesday due to an uncontested mayoral race.
Falls Church’s May 2002 elections brought 33 percent of the voters to the polls, compared to 30 percent in May 2004 and 80.7 percent in the November 2004 elections.
“I would think moving the election would tend to mix in purely local issues and large-scale partisan issues, so I don’t see any broad-based community interest in doing that,” David Snyder, the incumbent independent Falls Church City Council member candidate, said of a possible move from May to November.
Due at the polls May 2
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