Is 10-4-1 a new Dr Pepper ad? No, it's the number of candidates running for four seats on Blacksburg Town Council. Incumbent Mayor Ron Rordam is unopposed.
Residents still have to leave town boundaries to shop at some big box store in the other 'burg or Fairlawn, yet these voters get to choose from 10 candidates for just four town council seats. This provides Blacksburg voters with a greater diversity of political "shopping" choices than anywhere else in the NRV.
While there are names on the November ballots in the City of Radford and Giles County, there's no race or any choice present.
Floyd is perking up a bit politically, with two town council seats bringing out four candidates. Floyd's county Board of Supervisors has two terms expiring, but only one race. The same thing is seen for Floyd's School Board -- two terms up, one race. Both races are coming out of Floyd's District C.
Even with two incumbents retiring, the number of candidates running for town council in Blacksburg should be seen as a positive. It means people care enough to take the steps necessary to get their names on the ballot, define issues and run a campaign. Blacksburg voters now have an opportunity to find out which candidates share common concerns with a majority of community members, while also assessing how effective each individual may be if they become a member of this council.
Winners can then be measured by what steps are taken to further promote and advance the issues they ran on. Smells like democracy.
Question: Did moving Blacksburg elections from May to November of odd-numbered years contribute to a larger candidate pool? Blacksburg council acted on this a year ago, changing their town charter. Fairly quick and smooth process, which engaged the community in the dialog and decision. This is seen as a step which, in equal parts, will reduce election costs, increase voter participation, and dilute the power of special or single-interest groups.
Question: Will special interest groups be able to influence election outcomes in Blacksburg, presuming November elections produce increased voter participation? NRV citizens will need to watch this race to determine whether it means broader candidate platforms, more intense campaigning, or if certain issues are actually a majority position.
Speaking of questions, this brings us to a rather unique situation. Ballot referendums are rarely seen in Virginia localities. Unlike Blacksburg, Christiansburg's town council looked at the moving the vote issue for nearly a year, but then decided to do nothing. Wait and see what happens in Blacksburg's new elections.
After battling council on numerous open government and FOIA issues, a small group of citizens instead took the steps necessary to have this placed before Christiansburg voters (demonstrating there is more than one way to provide for citizen engagement). The question:
Shall the town of Christiansburg change the election date of the mayor and members of town council from the May general to the November general election in odd numbered years, beginning with a change in the scheduled May 2012 election to November 2011?
Along with statewide elections, including House of Delegate seats, this should prove to be an interesting political season (even though it's a non-presidential race year). Outcomes will shape the face of the Commonwealth far into the future, as state leaders will define how the redistricting process goes following the 2010 U.S. Census.
Local elections, providing voters with more choices, can also be expected to define the direction individual localities and the NRV move toward.