Open Letter to the Honorable Mayor Emmett S. Pugh, III and Members of Beckley Common Council Objecting to Proposed Ordinance Amending City of Beckley Charter Section 10 to Eliminate Primary Elections

Dear Mayor Pugh and Beckley Common Council Members,

I applaud your efforts to improve the city’s electoral process.  However, overwhelming evidence directly contradicts any suggestion that changing to a single nonpartisan election will increase voter turnout, therefore, I must to object to any amendment to the City of Beckley Charter eliminating primary elections.

The Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law has concluded that nonpartisan elections should not be adopted and that the question whether or not to adopt the change should not even be placed on the ballot. 

In “Teams Without Uniforms,” a study for Political Research Quarterly, three political scientists concluded that nonpartisan elections actually decrease voter turnout. 

If increasing voter turnout is the primary goal then holding city elections in conjunction with state and national elections is the ideal solution.  In fact, such a change may not be difficult to attain. 

The West Virginia Secretary of State’s Office has indicated that no state law prevents elected municipal officials from extending or reducing their current terms.  All that is needed to implement a change to on-cycle elections for a city such as Beckley is for council to pass an ordinance. 

Your actions so far have presented us with an opportunity to begin working towards a change we can be certain will meet the end objective.  The most efficient and economical way to make this change happen would be to capitalize on the current opportunity we have to align the city’s current election cycle with the current midterm election cycle.  This option would only require a 180-day reduction in your current term.

For this year only, the city would hold its upcoming primary election in September and the general election in November along with the 2010-midterm general elections.  Every four years thereafter, the city would hold both its primary and general elections in conjunction with the state/national cycle.  New terms of office would begin in January of the year following the election.

I urge not to abandon a good idea whose time is well overdue, but give change the chance it deserves. 

Respectfully submitted, 

Tony O. Martin

CC:      A. K. Minter

            Ann Worley

            Arnold Lee Leftwich

            Cedric Robertson

            Frank Williams

            Mike Atterson

            Robert Rappold