A few years ago, I made my morning Starbucks run after I had cast my ballot in a City election. I asked the young barista I had become friendly with if she lived in the City, and if she was going to vote that day. She told me she did live in the City, and no, she wasn’t going to vote that day. “I only vote in presidential elections,” she shared. Lack of interest in local elections is disappointing to me. I started to encourage her to go vote, but her decision not to participate was clearly linked to having no interest in local issues. If she went to vote, she wouldn’t know any of the people on the ballot. She stays home because she wasn’t engaged at the local level. That’s not voter suppression, that’s voter apathy.

Once again there is a new group advocating for moving Sarasota City elections to November. They cite Improving low voter turnout in City elections as a primary reason for their effort, and call the low turnout in March City elections “defacto voter suppression.” This corruption of the term “voter suppression” is unfortunate.

Voter suppression occurs when barriers are erected that suppress voter turnout. Historically, such barriers include poll taxes, literacy tests and restricting polling places or polling hours. City elections held in the Spring, complete with mail-in/absentee voting, generous early voting hours and individual precinct Election Day polling places cannot reasonably be classified as “voter suppression.”

March elections that showcase local elections provide the opportunity for timely run-off elections, which are common in the City. If elections are moved to November, campaigning and voting for City run-off races will occur during the holiday season. Is that what we want?

Currently, dark money is a weak factor in City elections. Having a big war chest and PAC support doesn’t guarantee success. The “little guy” can run and win. If races are moved to November, City races will compete with state and national races for voter attention, volunteers and campaign donations. The impact of dark money will become more potent. Do we really want to set the stage for developer dark money having greater impact in the City?

Another reason to hold City elections in March is unique to Florida: our local voter population is at its peak in the springtime. If elections are moved to November, many of our neighbors with second homes up north will not be able to participate in local forums and candidate campaign events because they will not be here.

In this latest iteration of advocacy for moving City elections to November, it would be great if we could remove the term “voter suppression” from our discourse. Elections held in the springtime may not be of interest to some voters, but that’s apathy, not voter suppression.

Cathy Antunes is host of "The Detail" on WSRQ.