The Petersburg City Council will have a public hearing to vote on whether to ban partisan elections for city council members at their next meeting on Dec. 17.
Currently, Petersburg City Council candidates can run with party nominations. However, according to a recent ordinance request from Petersburg’s last city council meeting, some council members believe partisan elections may limit voter and candidate freedom, especially in a small city like Petersburg. The ordinance request — which is addressed to the mayor and council by City Attorney Anthony Williams — cites the Leesburg city council, which has adopted rules against partisan elections, as an example.
Advocates of nonpartisan city council elections have argued that these types of elections can help encourage candidates to focus on solving community-specific problems rather than advancing party agendas, and may also attract a wider array of candidates and voters who are not necessary aligned with major political parties.
“Going back to nonpartisan local elections makes politics more community-focused,” Parham told The Progress-Index in an emailed statement. “It encourages candidates to address more local issues and allows more citizens to run for office without worrying about funding two elections. By removing party-based local primaries (pending no state or federal primaries), Petersburg could save at least $30,000 on election costs.”
“I think it’ll be beneficial because Petersburg has always been nonpartisan,” Ward 1 Councilman Marlow Jones added. “You may have some people who don’t fall into Democrat or Republican, who may be Independent, and it puts them as a disadvantage if you’re going against a major party.”
Critics, however, argue that party affiliation provides voters with valuable insight into a candidate’s general philosophy, priorities, and values and without party labels, voters may have less context to make informed choices. They have also argued that even in “nonpartisan” elections, candidates often have party loyalties or receive support from political organizations, and argue that removing party labels during elections still allows partisan politics to influence campaigns, just less transparently.
Jones acknowledged the validity of these critiques, and added that it is primarily the candidates responsibility to inform the public on their platform. He also added that — despite the greater context that partisan elections may be able to provide for voters — there are also drawbacks. If two candidates that identify with the same party are running against each other, for example, the party will ultimately have to chose which candidate to support, putting the other one at an unfair disadvantage. Keeping things nonpartisan, Jones said, helps keep national partisanship from interfering with Petersburg’s residents voting for what’s best for them regardless of party politics.
Regardless of whether council decides to approve the ordinance on Dec. 17, they’ll still need approval from the Virginia General Assembly before they can amend the city’s charter.
This article originally appeared on The Progress-Index: Dec. 17: Petersburg City Council considers banning partisan elections.