Collegiate Times

The town of Blacksburg is working toward moving town council elections from May to November. If the change is made, elections will be held on even-numbered years along with state and federal elections.

Current mayor Ron Rordam proposed the move in hopes that it will increase voter turnout for local elections.

"May is simply not the best time in Blacksburg for elections," Rordam said. "Students are thinking about going home and teachers are grading papers."

In May, the average voter turnout for local elections is between17 to 22 percent. In even-numbered years, however, it's 50 to 70 percent. Rordam hopes this change will bring out more voters and hopefully more Virginia Tech students.

"It will allow students to get involved more with local issues," Rordam said. "They'll see what each candidate stands for and then make their decision."

Virginia Tech political science professor Richard Rich agreed that May isn't the best time in Blacksburg for an election but believes there are other things to consider.

"More voters turn out, but will they be as informed? They may be largely unaware of local issues," Rich said.

Rich is skeptical of the move due to the possibility of party politics coming into play.

"I think it's important for town politics to be separate from state and federal elections," Rich said. "I don't think the party politics should contaminate local elections."

Mayor Rordam, also concerned about party politics possibly affecting local elections, wrote to each mayor in Virginia who has moved local elections to November to get their opinion on how it's working for their community.

"The seven responses that I got said that that's not been the case," Rordam said. "They didn't find partisanship as an issue. And they didn't find that there was a loss of local issues."

A public hearing will be held Nov. 13 to allow for citizen input, and the town council can either vote that night or at the following meeting on Nov. 27. If the decision is made to move the election, it will be sent to the Department of Justice for approval.

"It's a pretty routine change," Town Attorney Larry Spencer said. "So there's no reason why this change shouldn't be approved."

If approved, the change would go into effect immediately and the town council election would be held along with the presidential election in November 2008 instead of this coming May.