Hamilton election commissioners recommend new election cycle for Chattanooga

In light of low voter turnout this week, some Hamilton County election commissioners are calling for Chattanooga to bundle its mayoral and City Council elections with larger county or presidential elections to boost voter turnout and save money.

A number of Republican leaders, including local party chairman Joe DeGaetano and County Commissioner Greg Martin, voiced similar thoughts after the city's election Tuesday, which brought in 18,968 of the city's 96,333 active registered voters.

While the roughly 20 percent turnout pales in comparison to mid-60s percentage turnout in the last presidential election, it's pretty much on par with the city's 2013 election. Both DeGaetano and Hamilton County Democratic Party Chairman Terry Lee have attributed post-presidential voter fatigue to the typical March election turnout.

"Do you think the city of Chattanooga would have had more than 19.69 percent of voters turn out if they had their election in November?" Martin tweeted on election night.

On Friday, election commissioners pushed on the issue when they met to approve early voting hours for the city's upcoming runoff election for two City Council races.

"Anything we can do to increase voter turnout that is reasonable, that's something I would think we would want to support, including recommending that the city moves their election for savings of the taxpayers and to increase the voter turnout by more than double," Commissioner Chairman Michael Walden said.

Commissioner Chris Clem speculated the timing - and voter turnout numbers - of the city's election favors incumbents, but not a particular political party.

Champions of moving the city election date readily point to the math.

The March 7 election will cost Chattanooga $124,261, which comes out to $6.55 per voter. The projected cost of the April 11 runoff election falls between $20,000 and $25,000. Unless the two runoff races generate more than 3,000 ballots combined, their per-ballot cost will be even higher. The 2017 election expenses are in line with what the city spent on its 2013 election.

In comparison, the 2016 presidential election brought in 145,049 ballots for $300,000, or $2.07 per ballot.

Changing the city election date is not a simple matter, said a couple of city councilmen Friday afternoon.

"In fact, it's very complicated," Councilman Ken Smith said.

Aligning the city election with the November presidential election or even an August county general election could easily drown out the city election, the exact opposite of informing and engaging voters, Smith said.

"This could create a lot of confusion in voters' minds," Councilman Chip Henderson said of the county general election, citing voters who will have to pick - and differentiate - between county commission and council candidates, who both serve as their legislative representatives at the local level.

Switching to a presidential election cycle won't help incumbents in the least bit, Smith said, citing skyrocketing advertisement airtime costs. Even if a newcomer can afford to buy some time, they will be lucky to find it. Meanwhile, the incumbent still has the home team advantage even if they face the same limitations in reaching the public with purchased media, he said.

The subject is a recurring topic, Henderson said, recalling his participation in an ad hoc committee to research an alternate city election cycle when he was first elected in 2013.

There are plenty of logistical challenges, including whether to lengthen or shorten terms of office by a year or more, he said. In the end, the council did not press forward on making any changes.

To change the city election cycle, the city must change its charter. It takes a citywide referendum to accomplish that.

A proposed election cycle revamp can make it to referendum in one of two ways: the council could put it there with a vote or citizens can do it themselves with a petition. A successful petition requires signatures of qualified voters equal to 25 percent of the total votes cast for the mayor and all other candidates in the previous city election. In other words, 4,742 signatures of Chattanooga's pool of qualified voters.

The soonest such a referendum could be placed on the ballot is 2018.

Contact staff writer Paul Leach at 423-757-6481 or pleach@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @pleach_tfp.