In county government, there is no more important entity than the Shelby County Board of Commissioners, aka Shelby County Commission. Those commissioners hold much greater power than Memphis's city council, for example, because the county mayor actually can do very little without the Commission's approval. County government is considered what is known as a "weak mayor" form of government, which is to say it is a strong legislative form of government.
And yet, Shelby County elects almost all of its commissioners in a county primary that features abysmal turnout, costs the county about $1 million and encourages candidates to ignore independents, moderates in their own party and voters in the opposition party. After this year's May 4 county primaries, 12 of the 13 commission seats will have been decided -- only the District 5 seat will have a Democrat and a Republican on the Aug. 5 general-election ballot.
We ran a story today focusing mostly on those who believe the county primary discourages rather than encourages the democratic process. From the story:
What do you think? Should Shelby County Democrats and Republicans agree to end partisan primaries? Do you see any benefits to holding them, rather than just having a county general election in August?
And yet, Shelby County elects almost all of its commissioners in a county primary that features abysmal turnout, costs the county about $1 million and encourages candidates to ignore independents, moderates in their own party and voters in the opposition party. After this year's May 4 county primaries, 12 of the 13 commission seats will have been decided -- only the District 5 seat will have a Democrat and a Republican on the Aug. 5 general-election ballot.
We ran a story today focusing mostly on those who believe the county primary discourages rather than encourages the democratic process. From the story:
Those who argue against the primaries point to the abysmal turnouts that in many cases allow commissioners to be elected by less than 1 percent of the county's registered voters. In 2006, for instance, James Harvey got onto the commission with 4,724 votes in the District 3, Position 1 primary and Wyatt Bunker was awarded his seat on the strength of 3,923 voters in the District 4, Position 2 primary. Winning seats in some of the state's smallest counties can require more votes than it takes to gain power in Shelby County.
What do you think? Should Shelby County Democrats and Republicans agree to end partisan primaries? Do you see any benefits to holding them, rather than just having a county general election in August?
Zack, it rings hollow from a partisan perspective that the GOP, who began the partisan county primaries on their own in 1994 (the SCDP did not start until 1998) now wants to get rid of them.
Now, a more cynical person might think that this had something to do with the fact that much of the GOP base has exited Shelby for Tipton, Fayette and DeSoto Counties, and that it is highly unlikely that they will win more than two offices this August.
However, the REAL problem here is the statewide requirement that the County general elections be held at the same time as the State and Federal primary elections in August. This leads to confusion among even savvy voters.
The REAL answer would be a change at the state level that A) consolidates ALL primaries to August and B) all General Elections for November. This would reduce confusion and allow parties to create serious tickets and build themselves up at the County level.
While they are at it, they could arrange for all the Court Clerkships to be appointed by the judges of the particular jurisdiction and not elected, as there is no reason for them to be elected. Court clerks serve judges and lawyers, and that's who should choose them.
Rant over.