There are a handful of reasons not to hold elections on Election Day, and they all benefit the status quo and entrenched bureaucrats. This past week gave Arkansans the best of examples.
Question: Why hold school board elections on Election Day--that is, in November--when pesky voters are alert? After all, isn't it better to hold the really important votes in September, when few are paying attention? That way, the unions and school superintendents--and all their pals on the school boards--can sneak off to the polls, make a quick decision or six, requiring only a handful of ballots, and do it all without bothering the pretty little heads of all those taxpayers who'll foot the bill.
After all, if only a few hundred people show up to vote in school elections, the unions can put together an email campaign to make sure their people show up at the polls. And pass any measure they want.
But, they'll tell you, the November elections have so many issues on the ballot! The voters might get confused if they're asked to vote for president and a school referendum. That's what the apparatchiks put out in their press releases, anyway. Which tells you all you need to know about the credit they're giving your intelligence, Valued Voter.
Take, for example, the Magnolia School District. According to the Wednesday morning papers, which had complete but unofficial results of the Tuesday election, 545 voters were enough to pass a 3.4-mill increase for a new high school performing arts center. In Garland County, the Cutter Morning Star district passed its own increase with 302 "yes" votes.
Perryville's schools passed a tax increase with 279 votes. Jackson County passed one with 286 votes. Desha County got a millage increase by the voters--and we mean "got by the voters"--with 420 "yes" votes.
We're not making an editorial determination on the need in any of these districts. Magnolia might very well need that new performing arts center. It probably does. The point is that 545 people made the decision.
Which brings us to Pulaski County, the state's largest.
The Jacksonville/North Pulaski district did not propose any change in its school tax rate this year, but it did put the 48.3 mills on the ballot as required by state law. Every district has to go before voters every now and then just to keep its millage in place.
On Tuesday, the Jacksonville/North Pulaski district did indeed get its millage of 48.3 mills passed.
The vote was 3-2.
It must be noted that this was an uncontested election in Jacksonville. Which isn't unusual. In another local school board race, the district couldn't even draw one candidate who wanted the job.
But Jacksonville isn't a little wide spot in the road, either. The city is a bedroom community of Little Rock and includes the Air Force base. There's a population there, and certainly enough people who are interested in schools and/or their taxes. And a major decision on how their schools were financed was decided 3-2.
We hope. It may not quite be decided yet. The county's election commission was supposed to review four provisional votes sometime this week. What a story it'll be if the commission finds another couple "no" votes.
And the story will have a familiar moral: Hold elections on Election Day. When voters are paying attention.
NB: The Pulaski County Special School District held elections last year and elected a new school board. And it did so in November. Other districts should follow its lead and leaders, and not bury their elections in September.
Editorial on 09/22/2017