This October, Matanuska-Susitna Borough voters will decide on Proposition B-2, whether or not to change the borough election date from October to November to coincide with state and federal elections.
This change, at first blush, may look appealing to some, but it is fraught with problems that far outweigh any potential benefit. On balance, Proposition B-2 is a bad idea.
Combining the two elections into one day raises real concerns about a shortage of qualified election officials, additional costs, ballot security and handling, and voter confusion. In addition, local candidates and issues stand to be drowned out in the tsunami of highly financed state and national campaigns.
The borough and state share the vast majority of election officials. In 2012, the borough clerk estimated 85 percent of election workers are shared and if the borough election were moved to November, up to 152 new officials would need to be recruited to staff the election. This is a very tall order, especially considering that in 2012, the borough was already having challenges getting enough qualified election officials, which, of course, is necessary to ensure the integrity of our elections.
The state owns the ballot-counting machines the borough borrows for use in its elections. This arrangement works well when election dates are different. If elections were held on the same day, the borough would either have to buy its own equipment (estimated in 2012 to cost $132,500), or it would have to wait to use the voting machines until the state is done with them. Such a delay raises concerns about ballot security during overnight storage and increased number of times a ballot is handled prior to tabulation. Both of these make mistakes more likely.
Holding the elections on the same day would likely contribute to voter confusion, because there would be two elections going on at the same time, requiring two lines to wait in, two registers voters would have to sign, two sets of candidates, and two sets of ballot propositions.
There is also the complication of election dates for the cities of Palmer, Wasilla, and Houston, which have their elections in October. Would the cities also change their dates or would city elections continue to be held in October?
From a public policy standpoint, Proposition B-2 would drown out local candidates and issues. Having the two elections simultaneously would mean all candidates would be running adds, doing mailers, having forums, and so on, at the same time. It would be difficult for the local issues and candidates to be heard or even noticed, and information available to the voter would be much diminished.
The reason city and borough elections are nonpartisan and conducted on different dates is to enable focus on local issues and concerns. It is these local public policy decisions that most affect our day-to-day lives here in the borough, and our elected local representatives are the ones who make those decisions. It would be very unfortunate if we were to allow our local candidates and ballot issues to be overshadowed by state and federal elections dominated by partisan and big money interests.
In 2012, the Mat-Su Borough Assembly was twice presented with a proposal similar to Proposition B-2, and both times, it decided not to change the date for the borough elections. Our local elections continue to occur in October because that Assembly was provided with enough information to make an informed decision. And now you can see it remains the right decision.
Let's not lose the ability to focus on our local borough issues.
Vote "no" on Proposition B-2.
John Strasenburgh is retired and lives in Talkeetna. He has a strong interest, and years of citizen involvement, in many of the public land and resource use challenges facing Alaska. He is a former member of the Mat-Su State Park Citizens Advisory Board and the Mat-Su Trails and Parks Foundation Board.