One of the worst bills to pass last year’s General Assembly was SB 1157, which moved all local town elections that were held in May to November. It narrowly passed the Senate on the tie-breaking vote of the then Democrat Lieutenant Governor.
Before this terrible law, the localities could choose their local election day. The new law is another mandate from the state government for all. Letting the locality choose is more appropriate, there was no need to change that.
The most significant impact of this new law is that takes the attention out of local elections and combines local offices, such as town council, with state and national elections. When an election is in May and the only thing on the ballot are local offices and local issues, then the focus, messaging, push, and all, stays on the local issues. When a town council office is on the November ballot, then it is drowned out by the larger races such as congress. And if it’s a presidential year, then you can really say goodbye any local influence in that local election.
That was last year. Now the follow-up. Today in the Senate’s Local Government committee are several housekeeping bills to adjust several localities’ elections. The City of Portsmouth and the Town of Blackstone are among today’s docket. The bills are needed so that the localities’ elections will be legit, so there are no criticisms of the sponsors of today’s housekeeping work.
Cheers to all the mindless sample ballot voters who just check the boxes down the line; their ignorance will now carry the day at the local level.
