The Shadow
I think it is time for Covington and Iron Gate to change their elections in May to November and there are several reasons that I think it should be changed. The most important reason is that the May elections draw so few voters to the polls.
The Iron Gate election earlier this month had 29 people voting out of 405 registered voters. Where in the world were the other 376 voters eligible to vote for the council members and mayor? You may say that it does not matter; it is a public service and if the people in Iron Gate want a May election, let them have it.
Well, the State Board of Elections said it is OK with them but the localities will have to continue to pay their share of the cost of the poll workers and service people that handle the election.
I did not get the exact figure, but the this month’s election cost the town of Iron Gate about $2,800.
You divide the 29 voters that went to the polls in May and it comes out to about $96 per vote! To me that is a high price to just say we had the election in May. Some will say the town is paying for it. I say that is $2,800 that council could take off the taxes of the little town that so far has shown that it can really handle their financial affairs in a frugal way. It makes other localities ask how in the world do they do it?
Mayor Alan Williams said he is going to question the $2,800 cost because the electoral board is counting the residents of Wesgate and the county people that live in the Fork Farm Area as part of the voters in Iron Gate.
I did not get a chance to work up the figures for the May election held in Covington but the cost will go up because of the state not picking up the whole tab.
Whatever the cost is, I think that Covington City Council should seriously think of moving their May election to November also. In Covington there were 90 voters who cast write-ins in District 2 and 41 votes in District 1.
One Covington councilman said that he is in favor of moving the city’s elections from May to November.
That way, they would coincide with federal and state elections and cut back on the expenses. The Covington councilman also told me that he is on the minority on this matter, however, as some council members are against moving the elections.
The reason some object to moving the election to the fall is they say that having local, state and federal elections in November would overload the ballot and confuse the voters.
The council member in favor of moving the elections told me he thinks voters are smarter than that, and I agree.
One other thinking about not changing the election in Covington to November is that in May there is traditionally a low voter turnout and since they vote in districts, the loyal voters will come out for the incumbent. In November, there are more voters voting and the candidates may not get as many voters in the total count.
Covington council in working up a new budget and has indicated that many services and other funding will be cut or even eliminated for the coming year. If Covington council is really serious in trying to save money, they will get the May election moved to November and just have the one election.
And council should not worry about whether the voters are smart enough to figure who to vote for, the voters are pretty smart people and they are smart enough to know that raising taxes and service charges has to be brought under control, for the simple fact the low income and pensioned people that live in Covington can only stand just so much. In fact, we can say that about the whole Alleghany Highlands.
The bottom line is that one way to save money is to go to one election a year and that has to be in November. Clifton Forge had the same problem several years ago, low voter turn out in May and they moved to November and did not have any trouble at all and the people were smart enough to figure out who to vote for!
Speaking of the coming election, I was talking to Ms. Tiney Rose, assistant registrar at the county registrar’s office and have learned that two people have turned in the required 125 registered voters to get their name on the ballot in Clifton Forge for the November council election.
So far Don Carter and Jimmie Houff have turned in enough names to be on the November ballot. Two other people I understand plan on running but have not turned in their petitions as of Tuesday. They are incumbent Vice Mayor Nellie Friel and Carl Brinkley, who has served on council before.
Here are some interesting facts about the voters in Alleghany County. There are 12 precincts in the county with a total of 10,431 registered voters but here is a real catch, of that total, there are 221 inactive voters on the roll. Clifton Forge’s two precincts have the most inactive voters, with a total of 110 voters. District One has 60 and District Two has 50 in Clifton Forge out of a total of 2,617 voters registered to vote in the town.
If you have not voted for some time, you need to go by and get your record activated again.
Covington and Iron Gate are not alone in still having the May elections. Buena Vista still has their election in May and in the last election, of the 3,631 names on the voter rolls, just 753 or 20.7 percent cast their ballot. Some localities in Rockbridge County have made the change from May to November including Lexington, Glasgow and Goshen, and all say they have better voter turnouts in November.
I hope that Covington and Iron Gate councils will take a closer look at the November election and drop the May election after they get the bill for election both just had. But again, our local governments do some strange things, so don’t maybe we shouldn’t count on it anytime soon.
I believe that Clifton Forge council made a wise choice in picking Darlene Burcham as their interim town manager. Clifton Forge has some problems that require someone that has been down that road before and after 10 years of serving as city manager in Roanoke, I would have to say that she probably has run up against the same problems before. Clifton Forge has many positive things going for it right now and the town needs an experienced individual such as Darlene Burcham to help lead the way.
I will leave you with this thought. In life, it is not what a person knows but who the person knows, and in the case of Ms. Burcham, she has been in government long enough to know a host of people that she can call on for advice, help on grants, and just plain everyday problems. I hope council gives her a free hand and lets her run with new ideas. And of course time will tell!
I am out of space, time and coffee, see you next week and remember you have a friend who gave his life and blood for you and your sins and His name is Jesus … .
