In a 7-3 vote, the Virginia Beach city council has decided to move its municipal elections from May to November. The first elections will be held in November 2008, adding 6 months to the terms 5 of the council members, including mayor Meyera Oberndorf, a longtime proponent of the move.
As previously mentioned, I think the move is a good one. I also hope that Norfolk considers moving its municipal elections but I’m not holding my breath on that.
The VP article above mentioned that the chairman of the Electoral Board was against the move, saying that the $40,000 savings is not worth the additional work that election workers will now face in November. What additional work could he be referring to? Perhaps someone can enlighten me on this. (Note that this is the exact same argument that many use for not having paper-verified voting.) Seems to me that’s what election workers get paid for – to work elections. What difference does it make if the work is in May or in November?
One thing not mentioned in the article is the status of Ron Villanueva’s suggestion that the city institute a ward system like that of Norfolk. I wonder if that was considered at all. In a city the size of Virginia Beach, a ward system just makes sense. Perhaps someone out there knows more about this.
VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 
I’m digging around and I’ll post on the ward system options soon.
Good!
Bring us a ward system. The current way of electing members just leads to special interests winning all the seats because it is too expensive to run city-wide.
Bring us a ward system. The current way of electing members just leads to special interests winning all the seats because it is too expensive to run city-wide.