Residents listen to the public hearing on a proposal to change the town’s election process. Connection file photo
Town Council to Discuss Election Schedule
The Herndon Town Council announced on Tuesday, Feb. 24, that it will hold a work session on changing the election schedule for the Mayor and Town Council from May to November beginning in 2016, on Tuesday, March 3, 2015 at 7 p.m. in the Herndon Council Chambers Building, 765 Lynn Street, Herndon. The council will hold a public hearing on the subject on March 10 at 7 p.m.
The Virginia House of Delegates blocked the Town of Herndon’s plan to move town elections from May to November. The change would have begun in 2016.
Despite passage through the Virginia Senate with a unanimous 39-0 vote on Jan. 26, the House of Delegates never voted on Herndon’s bill. After the bill cleared the Committee on Counties, Cities and Towns, the House voted to sent it to the Committee on Privileges and Elections on Feb. 20.
“These never go to that committee. It was sent there to die,” said Herndon Mayor Lisa Merkel.
The Assembly passed four other bills unanimously this session that allowed other towns in Luray, Montross, Branchville and Buchanan to move their local elections from the spring to November. Cities of Alexandria, Falls Church and Manassas won General Assembly approval for moving elections from May to November in 2014.
Herndon’s former mayor and current delegate, Tom Rust (R-86), voted in favor of those seven changes, but said before the current General Assembly session that he did not support the change in Herndon. Rust voted to send Herndon’s bill to Privileges and Elections.
“This shouldn’t be controversial,” said Herndon Councilmember Grace Wolf. ‘What is special and different about Herndon?’ is the question you have to ask.”
“I remain completely baffled.” — Mayor Lisa Merkel
The Virginia General Assembly voted in 2002 to allow cities and towns to move their May elections to November. About six such requests a year come before the General Assembly, and approval has been routine, often unanimous.
“I remain completely baffled why the Virginia House of Delegates believes it is appropriate for other towns to move their elections to November starting in 2016 but not Herndon,” said Merkel.
“We thought we were doing this the simplest and easiest way. There has never been a controversy,” she said.
All 95 counties elect their Supervisors and School Board members at general elections held in November.
“This is not something that the Council dreamed up. It has come up for a decade or more,” said Merkel. “We agreed that this was an issue that this needed to be put forward.”
HUNDREDS OF CITIZENS voiced feedback to the Herndon Town Council, which voted on Dec. 9, 2014 to move town elections from May to November.
“It was an unprecedented amount of research, and weeks and weeks of conversation,” said Wolf. “We sent a postcard to every single house in town.”
Some residents said town elections should be separate from federal and state elections to allow focus on town issues. Some residents and councilmembers Steven Mitchell and David Kirby suggested making the debate a referendum, allowing the town’s voters to decide. And some supported the move, especially supporting any change that would increase voter turnout.
Everyone in town had his or her say, and, in the end, the Council voted 4-2, with one councilmember voting “present,” to move the election to November.
“Does the General Assembly believe they are better suited to govern the Town of Herndon than the Mayor and Council elected by the citizens?” asked Merkel.
Luray’s HB 1834 passed the House 99-0 on Feb. 4 and the Senate 38-0 on Feb. 20, the same day the House sent Herndon’s Bill to committee to die.
“We are being unfairly singled out. It is partisan politics,” said Wolf.
INCREASING VOTER TURNOUT by having town elections held in November along with State and Federal elections was the primary motivation for the proposal. At Herndon precincts, between 75-80 percent of registered voters turned out for the November 2012 presidential election year, and approximately 38-45 percent turned out during the midterm elections in November 2010, according to town records. In general, 20-25 percent of registered voters turn out for May elections.
Del. Rust (R-86) will be on the ballot in November, along with every other member of the Virginia General Assembly. In 2013, Rust defeated Jennifer Boysko (D) by 54 votes out of 20,775 cast, a margin that was reduced to 32 votes after a recount. Boysko has announced that she will run against Rust again this year.