Florida's municipalities intend to fight a proposal now before state lawmakers that would take away their ability to set local election dates and could extend the terms of some current elected officials.
State lawmakers on Thursday will look at a proposal that seeks to improve local voter turnout by requiring every city, town and village to line up their elections the same day each year.
The proposal (PCB SAC 16-04), scheduled to go before the House State Affairs Committee, would require the local elections to either mesh with statewide November general elections in even years, or be held every other year on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November in odd years.
Of Florida's 411 cities, towns and villages, only 151 --- including Miami, Pensacola and St. Petersburg --- currently hold elections in November.
Under the proposed bill, a county supervisor of elections could also set a single annual date for all the municipal elections, something that could keep elections in the spring but may be more easily accomplished in smaller, rural northern counties with fewer municipalities.
A state analysis of the proposal notes the measure won't impact state finances, but could cost local governments who would have to bring their charters and ordinances in line with the proposal.
David Cruz, assistant general counsel for the Florida League of Cities, said such decisions should be left to the local governments, a principle known as "home rule." He also said that local issues and contests could get lost on lengthy general election ballots.
"Our municipal officials are very concerned about this," Cruz said Monday, after the league provided reporters an overview of its priorities for next year's legislative session.
"They feel that what happens when you have a November election is that a municipal question might fall to the bottom of a ballot," Cruz said, "There will be voter fall-off from that ballot and they won't necessary make it to the bottom of the ballot, where you might find a municipal official running for office."
House State Affairs Committee Chairman Matt Caldwell, who offered the proposal, said he understand the municipalities' desire for home rule, but disagrees about issues getting lost on a long ballot.
"It's fictitious to think that ballot-fatigue, with 40-, 50-, 60-percent turnout is going to be less participation than a simple city ballot in an off-time that gets 15-percent turnout," said Caldwell, R-North Fort Myers.
Pasco County Supervisor of Elections Brian Corley, president of the Florida State Association of Supervisors of Elections, said the proposal appears to provide some flexibility, but the issue is a matter between the state and local lawmakers.
"This is more of a policy decision ... that probably is an issue between the cities and the Legislature," Corley said. "Our position is we run the elections; it's something we do as an administrative function for support to the cities."
Of the state's cities, towns and villages, 52, including Coral Gables, Panama City Beach and Orlando, hold local elections in April. Another 113 municipalities, including Fort Lauderdale and Jacksonville, hold their council contests in March. A few others ask voters to perform their civic duty in other months.
The proposal, if it becomes law, would go into effect after the 2016 general election.
Cruz acknowledged a number of local governments that voluntarily moved to November elections did so after looking at their turnout numbers, which often are lower when not tied to state and federal contests.
"Not all cities are the same," Cruz said. "We'd like to have that flexibility for each municipality to go ahead and analyze voter turnout and address that locally rather than being a one-size-fits-all solution coming from the state level."
Cruz said other concerns about the election date change include forcing municipalities to undergo charter changes --- often requiring voter approval --- and that the state will be extending the current terms of some locally elected officials. For example, for cities that currently hold elections on both even- and odd-number years, some terms would need to be extended to line up with the bill.
"We're afraid there will be additional cost associated of implementing the bill at the local level," Cruz said.
