Baltimore City Council Works to Boost Voter Participation

This past November, after a record low number of registered voters cast ballots in the Baltimore City general election, most people agreed that work needed to be done in future elections to improve voter turnout.

On Monday, January 23, 2011, the Baltimore City Council took the first step toward boosting participation in city elections with the introduction of a Mayor and City Council Resolution by Councilwoman Rochelle “Rikki” Spector (District 5).

Councilwoman Spector proposed amending the City Charter to allow Baltimore City to align its elections with the presidential election cycle beginning in 2016. I support Councilwoman Spector’s resolution because this change would go a long way toward boosting voter turnout in city elections.

While the Baltimore Election Change Coalition proposes placing the city’s elections in line with the gubernatorial cycle, this move would dilute the city’s influence by stacking the ballot with candidates for governor, lieutenant governor, and candidates for the Maryland General Assembly.

I agree that an important goal should be to get as many people as possible to participate in the democratic voting process, but we should also consider how moving city elections to the gubernatorial cycle would detract from the attention given to important issues facing Baltimore City.

A close look at voter turnout figures for Baltimore City in the gubernatorial and presidential election cycles, dating back to 2000, shows the difference in participation to be negligible. Keeping city elections separate from the gubernatorial cycle would help to ensure that issues unique to Baltimore city continue to receive a complete vetting by voters and the local press. A change to the gubernatorial cycle, however, would only serve to dilute issues unique to Baltimore City at the expense of statewide issues and elections.

In November Baltimore City experienced historic low turnout when only 13.2 percent of registered voters cast ballots. You can’t argue against the fact that placing the city in line with the gubernatorial election cycle would increase turnout over 2011’s poor numbers. But the point of moving the city’s elections should be threefold: increase voter turnout, save taxpayer dollars and highlight issues of concern that are unique to residents of Baltimore City.

Councilwoman Spector’s bill is co-sponsored by 13 members of the Baltimore City Council and was referred to the Judiciary and Legislative Investigations Committee. A hearing date will be scheduled in the near future, and if approved by the committee and the full City Council and signed by the mayor, the resolution would appear before voters on the ballot during the upcoming November presidential election.

Click here for more information on Councilwoman Spector’s resolution.