George,

It is now clear why Lloyd Snook and I differ so much on the likelihood of a “battle” over electing City Council by ward if the School Board is elected by ward. Lloyd bases his analysis on the political climate in the early 1980’s when there was a “contentious debate” over ward-based Council elections. I base my analysis on the current political climate whenever the issue of ward-based Council elections is brought up.

Last year (2004) I served on the Elections Task Force which was charged, among other things, to explore ward-based Council elections. The Task Force met every week for six months studying every aspect of electing Council by wards. Among other things, we were informed about the current criteria used by the Justice Department in evaluating the acceptability of a new election system under the Voting Rights Act of 1965. These criteria have changed a lot since 1980.

Most importantly, the Task Force went to great lengths to gather citizen opinion. We set up eight public hearings at locations throughout the City so citizens would have every opportunity to present their views. I attended every one of those hearings and made careful notes. From these data and from my observations throughout the six months on the Task Force, I can make the following conclusions:

1. There is very little interest in the topic of electing Council by wards.

Combining the results from all eight public hearings, only 17 citizens spoke in favor of ward-based Council elections. Twenty-one spoke against wards and 3 were neutral. A few people did not speak at the hearings, but left written comments. Their views were also divided between pro and con. The Task Force received only 2 e-mails. A number of people said “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. Electing Council by wards is clearly not a contentious issue in Charlottesville these days. It draws almost no interest at all. And unless the Council really fouls up, why would we expect citizens to suddenly want to “fix it”?

By the way, all African-Americans who spoke at the hearings, except one, favored the current at-large system. The African-American members of the Elections Task Force had differing positions on the issue. In 2004, there was no African-American dimension to this issue.

2. It is the Republican party, and only the Republican party, that is pushing this issue.

During my six months on the Task Force, I encountered only 2 Democrats who wanted ward-based election of Council. The driving force behind this 2004 elect-by-ward effort was the Republican party. The effort to set up the Elections Task Force and to charge it with looking into ward-based Council elections was spearheaded by Rob Schilling. A great many of the citizens who spoke in favor of ward-based elections at the public hearings were active Republicans. These active Republicans made the effort to come and speak at several of the public hearings. (When counting the comments reported in 1. above, I did not include repeats.)

Yes, if the School Board is elected by wards, the Republicans will use that as an opportunity to re-introduce the idea of electing Council by wards. I see such an effort as being as futile as the Elections Task Force gambit was. Again, unless there is a serious breakdown in the way Council is running the City, there will be no “steam” behind changing the method of electing the Council. And no Democratic Councilor that I have known would do something just to get “people off my back” (as Lloyd suggests might happen).

The question of electing the School Board by ward or at-large is complex enough in itself without introducing some assumed future “battle” about how Council might be elected. Let’s concentrate on finding the best way to elect a School Board and not cloud that discussion with unlikely future changes in electing the Council.

David RePass (electronic mail, December 7, 2005)