6 November 2019 — 1000 mst
Lewis & Clark goes nonpartisan, the Gallatin does not
Flathead municipal elections prove that
nonpartisan elections are low turnout elections
Flathead County. Just one in five registered voters cast ballots in yesterday’s municipal election in the Flathead County cities of Whitefish, Columbia Falls, and Kalispell. Of the county’s 67,885 registered voters, 23,647 were eligible to cast ballots: but only 4,797 did. Complete returns are available at the website of the Flathead County Election Department.
This level of turnout is appalling, but not surprising. Nonpartisan elections are low information elections for voters who do not belong to special interest groups with a stake in the election’s outcome. In municipal elections, the primary interest groups are municipal employees, especially those who are unionized, and private firms that do business with the cities. These groups keep their members informed, and they turn out to vote in nonpartisan and off-cycle elections in disproportionate numbers. See Sarah Anzia's Timing and Turnout: How Off-Cycle Elections Favor Organized Groups.
Lewis and Clark voters approved 56–44 percent a ballot measure making county elections nonpartisan. Registered voter turnout was 40 percent (46,152 registered voters, 18,533 ballots cast). Complete returns are available at the county’s election department’s website.
In Gallatin County, the local Democratic Party opposed the nonpartisan ballot measure, which was defeated, but Sandi Luckey, chair of the Lewis and Clark Democrats, told me this morning that her organization was neutral:
We were unable to come to a unified decision. We released a statement some time ago saying that while we believe Party indication is part of voter education because it reflects a combination of values that tells voters about a candidate. But we also acknowledged local government is about people, not Parties, and that we looked forward to the decision made by our neighbors and friends.
The belief that local government is about people, not political parties, is widely held, especially among people who are fed up with what they consider partisan bickering. Suppressing party identification, however, does not eliminate partisan activity. It merely pushes it underground, depriving voters of valuable information and amplifying the name recognition advantage of incumbents.
In Gallatin County, 23,375 of 78,320 registered voters cast ballots, a turnout of 32 percent. The ballot measure to adopt nonpartisan elections was defeated 54.6–45.4 percent (county returns). The local Democratic Party campaigned against the measure, as did Dr. David Parker, head of the political science department at Montana State University. Parker’s public lecture on the consequences of nonpartisan elections is available on YouTube.
The nonpartisan proponents — Republican county commissioners — chose a low turnout election to try to sneak their proposal past the voters. They could have waited until next year’s general election, but they chose an off-cycle election in the belief that fewer Democrats would vote. They got away with their mischief in Helena, where the local Democrats were divided and irresolute, but not in Bozeman, where the local Democrats were organized, and had Professor Parker’s help in developing the argument for retaining partisan elections.