Democrats Norris and Szakos were elected from the four candidates for Council.

The Undervote

In the election yesterday, 10,265 Charlottesvillians cast votes. Since there were two vacancies on City Council, each voter had the opportunity to vote for up to two of the four candidates. But many chose not to--only 15,890 votes were cast for an undervote of 23%. There is always a down-ticket fall off--people turn out to vote for the race they're most concerned about--here, probably for governor--and don't care to cast votes where they have less interest or information. That said, some of the undervote may have been more purposeful.

The strategic benefit of 'single-shotting' is in voting for your favored candidate and not adding to the vote total for any of the other candidates.

In one notable example from some years ago, the lone Republican, Rob Schilling, probably benefitted from this course, and generated grumbling that it was somehow unfair.

In yesterday's election the candidate who might have benefitted from single-shot voting was clearly Bob Fenwick, who had made opposition to city participation in construction of the Meadowcreek Parkway a key campaign issue. But it is not possible to know to what extent Fenwick supporters may have done it. And since he was not elected, it is moot.

(Dave Sagarin, November 4, 2009)